Dreams
by eelyrehc
Summary: Aizen has dominated Hueco Mundo, now he wants the power of the Kyubi which Naruto posses. Shinobi of Konoha enter a world they never thought existed. Meeting Espada, battling Arrancars and gaining new allies while they're there who help them on their quest to save Konoha and rescue Orihime. But will Naruto meet his end in Hueco Mundo? A tale of two realms uniting to defeat Aizen!
1. Hueco Mundo

**A/N: Hey guys :D This is an update for the first chapter although for those following already, there are no changes, I just combined the first and second chapter :) This is my very first fanfic so please be gentle hahaha But I really hope you enjoy it! Also, I couldn't think of a title so until I do 'Dreams' might just be temporary o.O Also, this is based during the Naruto Shippuden era :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Bleach or the picture used for the cover photo :) **

* * *

Chapter one

_Hueco Mundo _

"Where are we this time Ulquiorra?" echoed a loud voice, slightly annoyed. "Lord Aizen wants us to investigate these spiritual pressures, especially one in particular" replied Ulquiorra as they stepped out of the Garganta.

"What business does he have with simple humans? We have better things to do than waste our time here, I still wanna settle the score with carrot top. The only thing decent about the human world is the fact that there's far more things to do here than in that dump, Hueco Mundo" Yammy spat through his locked jaw.

"Humans are trash. I don't know what Lord Aizen wants to do with them but it must have significant value" replied the Espada nonchalantly. He swiftly lifted his hand and caught a kunai between his index and middle finger, "Absolute trash" he uttered under his breath to himself as he flicked the small weapon back to the bush from where it came just before they were completely surrounded by Konaha's ninjas.

"Heh" scoffed Yammy "Ichigo kurosaki can wait, this might be interesting after all Ulquiorra."

* * *

Naruto leaned against a tree, annoyed at Kakashi for making him wait for him as he's done many times before but the young blonde found this especially annoying seeing as it was his day off. Although he couldn't deny that Kakashi's sudden summoning had piqued his interest. _"Maybe he wants to train me? Maybe he even wants to nominate me as a jounin, I mean I am gonna be hokage one day, it's about time everyone recognises my skill as Konaha's number one ninja!"_

"What's with that grin, Naruto?" Kakash's voice broke his innovative thoughts as his head snapped up to see his former teacher studying his face. "I never thought you of all people could look so... Pensive" mused Kakashi.

Naruto folded his arms and quickly swerved his head to the side, not even realising his lips had subconsciously curled into a wide grin while he was lost in thought. "Hey! Kakashi sensei, what's that supposed to mean!? And you're late! Again! Not to mention it's my day o-" Naruto's rant came to a halt after he turned his gaze back to see Kakashi's sudden jaded expression, even with his mask the young blonde could tell he hadn't gotten much sleep through the night.

"Kakashi sensei.. Why have you called me here?" Naruto asked solemnly. "Naruto" Kakashi started "I personally want you on my squad for an S rank mission beginning tomorrow although the Hokage wouldn't agree with my request. So, I want you to talk to her."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed in complete exasperation with a tad tone of disappointment that it had nothing to do with his initial thoughts. "Why's the old lady so bent on making me stay in the village this time?" Naruto pouted while he tightly crossed his arms across his chest.

"There was a strange incident where several of our ninjas were injured and some that had died while in battle with nothing we've really seen before. A ninja from the Hyuga clan reported that the enemy didn't have any chakra points but they were incredibly strong. The enemy wants you, Naruto. We have reasons to believe that they want to posses the kyuubi but this is unlike any situation we've ever really been in. To be frank, I'm still trying to make sense out of it myself and I can't give you all the information you want to know unless you're a part of this mission" Kakashi stated in a rather calm manner considering the circumstances.

Naruto's arms fell to his side, clenching his fists with his brows furrowing, his crystallised blue orbs staring through Kakashi, he parted his lips slightly. "I'll speak to granny Tsunade now" Naruto whispered, almost inaudible. With that, Kakashi watched as Naruto was already far off into the distance with only a few leaves settling on the ground to mark he was ever there.

* * *

Tsunade sat at her desk hidden by a hoard of uncompleted documents and reports dating back to her early days as hokage and a new unopened bottle of sake. _"What a way to end the day"_ she sighed to herself as she covered the lid with her hand, almost savouring the rare moment of relaxation that was all of a sudden fleeting right when she recognised a familiar chakra signature outside her door. Before she could react, Naruto was already stalking through her office and stopped at her desk while he propped himself up with his two hands on her desk.

Tsunade inhaled deeply through her nose as if she were trying to calm herself while she lifted her gaze from the bottle to the panting boy who stood before her. "So I assume you found out about Konaha's new threat?" she asked slightly irritated.

"Were you going to try hide this from me granny Tsunade?" Naruto asked seriously. "If there is something happening because of me-" Naruto paused as Tsunade's chair slid back and she was leaning over her desk, intimidatingly close to him before he could catch up with her movements.

"It's not you Naruto, it's what's inside of you that this is about! We have no idea what the enemy is capable of and I don't want you to be a part of anything until we have information about what we're up against." Tsunade retorted impatiently. "We have to make sure you are kept safe right now."

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto spat back. "People have always treated me differently for something I didn't choose… But my dream is to become hokage and that means protecting Konaha including all of those people if they're in some sort of danger. So don't tell me this isn't about me when I'm the key to getting what they want."

Tsunade stood up straight letting her hands retreat off the table as her stare softened and her posture relaxed. She scoffed with a small smile "You're still just a snot nosed little genin to me but I know betting on you to be hokage is one bet I'd actually win." She sat down in her chair and signalled Naruto to sit in the chair on the other side of her desk. He silently obliged.

"I can't let you be a part of this mission when we are unaware of the enemies abilities and from where exactly they're from. You're strong, Naruto. But I can't have you blindly strolling into enemy territory when we're still at a large disadvantage" Tsunade explained.

"Then you'll have to forgive me eventually Granny Tsunade cos I'm going on this mission with Kakashi sensei regardless. No one is dying on my account." Naruto's resolute eyes held firmly on Tsunade's hazel orbs. The older woman always put her utmost faith in the blonde haired boy who was now growing into a man she suspected could possibly surpass the fourth hokage. She knew she couldn't keep Naruto out of this and despite her better judgement she believed in the little brat she met all those years ago.

Tsunade sighed and placed her elbows on the table with her chin resting against the back of her hands. "You will be under Kakashi's care at all times, don't make me regret this Naruto" she said firmly.

Naruto's eyes lit up while he gave Tsunade a confident smile, "You got it granny Tsunade. What're the details?"

"Tomorrow morning you will be infiltrating enemy territory" the older woman began "We believe it's called 'Hueco Mundo'."

* * *

Ulquiorra stepped out of the Garganta and made his way to Aizen's headquarters. Behind him, Yammy had followed with a loud groan "I'll let you report back to Aizen with that creepy eye of yours, I've had enough for today" with that, Yammy turned his back to Ulquiorra and disappeared through the whirling sands of Las Noches.

The green eyed Espada stared after him before he turned to go to Aizen to report his findings, which he couldn't deny were quite interesting. When he arrived at Aizen's door, he found that he was already engaged in deep conversation with the human prisoner, _'Orihime, is it?'_ he thought to himself.

"Your power is very exceptional Orihime, you will help me restore the hogyoku won't you?" Aizen asked.

"Yes, lord Aizen" replied Orihime sounding very despondent. The door opened and Ulquiorra watched as the orange haired girl walked out, sparing a second glance at the pale Espada while she was escorted back to her chamber by Loly and Menoly. Once Orihime had turned the corner, Aizen stepped into the doorway and spotted the grim looking frame.

"Welcome back, Ulquiorra. Now, show me all you've learnt about those humans" the former shinigami requested while he turned back around to walk into the room he and his prisoner were just in.

As expected, the green eyed Espada followed him into the large room containing the hogyoku and stood at a respectable distance as he waited for Aizen to sit back down on his throne. "Lord Aizen" Ulquiorra began "those humans in the world of the living could not only sense but could also physically see us during our investigation. They have high levels of chakra which I believe is harnessed as a weapon for the ultimate defence, they contain large amounts of spirit energy which can be converted to formidable amounts of spiritual pressure in the afterlife. They engaged with us during our visit to the world of the living, I will show you what we have learnt about their physical abilities."

Aizen slightly leaned forward in his seat slightly as Ulquiorra proceeded to unbind his eye and abolish it with his right hand. The former shinigami closed his eyes and could see trees, bushes, blue sky and a faraway stone carving of what he presumed were historical figures, some sort of homage maybe? Looking through the Espada's perspective, he saw a short but sharp knife suddenly wedged between two pale fingers before it was flung back to the owner amidst a bush.

Aizen sat back in his chair when he found that the humans had efficiently and very quickly surrounded them but it didn't bother him in the least feeling confident in knowing the full capabilities of the Espada, the strongest of all arrancars in Hueco Mundo that he had created. There was not a doubt in his mind of their strength until he saw a roaring fire quickly encircling the espada as a wall of mud had engulfed Yammy just before it had turned into a hard layer of impenetrable rock.

Ulquiorra engaged in hand to hand combat, effectively dodging every weapon and jutsu that was thrown at him while he skilfully eliminated the enemy using a small cero to burn a hole in their chest, just where his was. The ones that decided to run, he didn't chase and the ones that were overcome with paralysing fear were spared as they posed no threat, they weren't worth the effort.

He had just about taken care of most of the ninjas when a human with satiny white hair had casually stood before the green eyed Espada, blocking his path. This human seemed calm and collected but the way he watched his comrades fall said otherwise. Ulquiorra couldn't help but reflect on how insignificant and unwarranted emotions were. Did they not know everyone they know would die eventually, especially if they are in battle? This was something he couldn't comprehend. Now this man was staring at him intensely with one lidded eye as the other was shadowed with a headband, this was only something that interested him further.

The white haired man didn't speak but instead lifted his headband on the part that fell over his right eye. Ulquiorra was now staring into a red iris with what looked like four singular pupils within it. He instantly broke the eye contact, sensing something had changed. He looked over towards Yammy who was now free from the bit of earth that trapped him and was sprinting towards him aggressively.

Ulquiorra's eyes widened slightly "What are you doing?" he asked somewhat irritated. Yammy didn't stop or answer him but instead viciously swung his fists toward him, Ulquiorra went to grab Yammy by the arm to put an end to his idiocy but when he came into contact with him, he saw he was only holding the large lump of dry mud his comrade was encased in.

His green orbs narrowed slightly as he was trying to make sense of what had just happened when suddenly his instincts had picked up an incoming presence behind him. He turned quickly just in time to dodge the white haired ninja's fist which ended up colliding with the mud, causing cracks to form in the lump of earth as hard as stone.

"What you've just experienced was a minor form of genjutsu" the white haired man begun "Who and what are you and your friend over there? Why have you come here?" he questioned.

_"Genjutsu?"_ Ulquiorra echoed curiously to himself.

The Espada lunged toward the man using a sonido but to his surprise, his opponent could only just follow his movements as he sprung back with what almost looked like some sort of flash step those pesky Shinigami use. '_Interesting_' thought Ulquiorra "One of you contains an incredible amount of spiritual energy. Tell me, who is it?" Ulquiorra demanded.

"And why would I tell you what you want to know exactly?" the white haired man said, almost in a mocking tone.

_"So there is someone strong in this village"_ Ulquiorra established. "I will spare this place if you give the individual up to me. I can see you know who I'm talking about" he spoke with confidence, psychologically trying to coax his opponent into giving him the information he needed.

"No one here will give up one of our own" The white haired man replied truthfully.

"You humans are stubborn. You'll tell me or I'll kill you right now and everyone else in this village."

"You're ignorant if you think you can destroy Konoha, populated with some of the best ninjas the world has seen" the white haired man said huskily as he ran towards Ulquiorra, a chittering ball of blue light forming in his hands. "Enough talk."

Ulquiorra stood his ground, readying for hand to hand combat but while he was assessing his opponents fast movements and the increasingly loud bolts of light radiating out of his hand, Ulquiorra realised this attack was too strong to come into physical contact with, he lifted his hand, aiming his fingers straight towards his enemies chest and fired a cero, a straight ray of green light shot straight through the white haired ninja, and the light in his hand diminished while he fell to the ground.

Ulquiorra walked towards the still body on the ground, observing his features, his red lifeless eye that still stared straight at him. '_Interesting_' he thought to himself again until a loud chittering noise disrupted his thought process. The body in front of him vanished, leaving only smoke behind and the Espada spun around only to see outstretched fingers penetrating the left side of his chest, right next to the hole in the middle.

The green eyed espada looked up from his chest and stared into that one peculiar red eye once again. His insides burned, this pain was unlike anything a mere human could inflict on a being like himself, he knew he had to get away from the chittering light before it came out the other side of him, leaving him disadvantaged until he could regenerate the unnatural hole that was burning its way to his back.

He began to lift his arm to grab the wrist the hand belonged to, breaking it if he had to but to Ulquiorras surprise, it was almost as if the shinobi knew his intentions and used that flash step-like technique to leap away at a safe distance. At this, the Espada suspected this man was very skilled and experienced in battle.

_"So his intention isn't to kill me"_ Ulquiorra determained, almost amused at the thought of a human believing they had the power to do so. The sound of cracks and rubble coming from where Yammy had been held captive in a solid slab of mud had caused the green eyed Espada to turn his attention towards the monstrous looking Arrancar breaking out of the rock and escaping the small bits of mud that refused to let him go.

"These humans are idiotic to think they can hold me down with something so mundane like mud, that's nothing. But what gets me is why that human is still alive, Ulquiorra? I thought you were better than that." Yammy roared, aggravated. "Let me give it a crack."

Ulquiorra disregarded his comrades remarks as he just watched the enraged Espada lunge towards the white haired man, viciously slamming both of his large fists into the ground where he stood, causing the earth around him to plummet upwards from the physical pressure. The dirt had settled into the air, creating a thick cloud of grime which hindered their sight. Yammy stood up straight and brought his fists back to his side.

"Damn, that guy is fast for a small human" Yammy said while staring only at the ground he destroyed with his own hands. "Come out and be a man, fight me." Yammy howled.

The dust was clearing and there were multiple silhouettes surrounding the two Espada once again. Ulquiorras eyes had settled on one in particular that resembled the man he had just fought, he could feel the hard stare of that blood red orb on his deep green globes. Once the dirt in the air had subsided, they found they were encompassed with more humans, bearing themselves with hand signs and sharp weapons. _"Their reinforcements are efficient"_ the green eyed Espada observed.

"You're not going to trap me again with those cheap tricks of yours" Yammy stated.

"Your orders, Kakashi?" one of the humans shouted urgently toward the white haired man, although he never took his eyes off of the Espada.

"We don't want to fight you" spoke Kakashi, still staring at Ulquiorra with his lidded eyes "But we will do everything in our power if you intend to put our home in harms way."

Yammy let a bellowing cackle escape his mouth, it made the ninjas flinch and only hold their guards up higher. Yammy opened his mouth to speak at how weak and insignificant he sees the humans surrounding him but before he could get a sound out, Ulquiorra had lifted his arm, signalling Yammy to stop.

"We will leave" the pale Espada replied in his usual nonchalant tone "But I won't tell you that we that we will not return. I want the one who contains the spiritual energy of one hundred Shinigami. Even standing this distance from the village, I know it's here. We will get that even if it means crushing this trivial place you call home." With that, Ulquiorra opened the garganta and stepped inside with Yammy who seemed agitated at his comrade for not letting him have his way. The humans watched in distress as the garganta closed, making no attempt to stop them.

* * *

Aizen opened his eyes, letting what he had just saw through Ulquiorras eyes resonate through his mind in silence for a few moments. "Come to think of it, where has Yammy gone? Should he not be here reporting back to me with you?" he interrogated.

"He came back feeling indignant at the fact that he didn't eliminate anyone in the world of the living" replied the obedient Espada.

"And why did you stop him?" asked Aizen.

"Because it would have served as a handicap to our true objectives, Lord Aizen. How these humans utilise their energy and what they are capable of. We also managed to single out the idea that an individual has enough strength equivalent to one hundred or perhaps even more Shinigami." Ulquiorra explained.

Aizen had smirked at the idea that someone can hold that much power and he wanted it. He couldn't deny that Orihime has a unique power but he had his doubts about her ability being able to restore the hogyoku to its original form. She is simply a means to entrap Ichigo and other bothersome Shinigami in Hueco Mundo. If he could somehow use that power in the world of the living and integrate it into the hogyoku, he could create something even greater than the original stone Urahara crafted all those years ago.

"Is there anything more you'd like to inform me of?" Aizen asked.

"Even though they're humans, I admit they are strong. They are also very strategic, it's not enough to interpret as threatening but it is enough to be weary of. I believe that is all Lord Aizen." the Espada responded.

"Thank you Ulquiorra, you're free to leave now." Aizen said still smirking. The Espada dipped his head forward respectably then looked back up towards the former Shinigami before turning around and making his way to the door.

Once the door had shut, Aizen stood up and made his way over to where he keeps the Hogyoku. _"Let's see how strategic you people really are."_ Aizen thought to himself as he sent a garganta to open in the world of the living where the two Espada had last been. _"This should be activated once it senses any spiritual energy, the one thing that binds the living and us together."_

* * *

"Tomorrow morning? We haven't got the time to waste! Why don't we just go now and save some time?" Naruto barked at Tsunade.

"You brat, I just said you could go despite my better judgement, don't push it!" Tsunade spat back. "We need to summon Kakashi anyway seeing as he's in charge of this mission and more importantly, he's dealt with this enemy first hand."

"But-" Naruto started until he was cut off by a strange sensation that came over him. It was as though a large shockwave of spiritual pressure just washed over the village. "Naruto?" Tsunade queried "You felt that too? It's foreign…"

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's it for the first chapter :) I hope you enjoyed and lemme know what you think! :D Also, Naruto is 16 in this story so it's sorta based mid-way shippuden era :D Thanks for reading! **


	2. Enter Las Noches

Chapter two

_Enter Las Noches_

* * *

"Naruto!" Tsunade called out to the blonde haired boy as he sprinted out of her office and towards the garganta. "Idiot!" she muttered while lifting herself out of her chair to stop Naruto getting to the source of energy alone.

Although Naruto was fast, Tsunade was faster. He turned his head to see her running next to him right before she stood before him, blocking his way and clutching his shoulder to force him to stop, her brows furrowed in frustration and worry as she stared down into turbulent blue orbs.

"We can't make any rash decisions especially if they're after you, you can't just run off by yourself like that! What're you trying to do? Run straight into a likely trap? It is definitely the same presence I felt the last time they were here but we can't say for sure it's the same people" barked Tsunade. The older woman sighed and tightly shut her eyes in a moment of contemplation while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I can't just-"

"Yes yes, I know, sit idly by, etc. You're a ninja of Konoha, Naruto. That means you must follow the codes and conducts of what that means and trust in your comrades. At least wait for me before running off on your own. Don't single yourself out and take all the responsibility for something thats not in your control. Now, let's go."

Naruto stared up at Hokage almost in awe, the strongest ninja in the village as he let a gentle smile fall on his lips and his features soften. This quickly faded as his eyes narrowed cheekily and his smile turned into a smirk. "Did you just say we were equals granny Tsunade?" Naruto teased.

"Keep dreaming kid! Are you coming or not?" retorted Tsunade as she already had her back turned towards Naruto, running towards the mass of energy.

"Hey! Wait up granny Tsunade!"

* * *

"Lord Aizen" Ulquiorra greeted "It appears the humans have sensed the presence of the garganta. Your instructions, sir?"

"Ulquiorra" Aizen started "Let's see how this plays out, it'd be better if they came here of their own freewill, don't you think?" the former shinigami questioned with a complacent smile.

"Yes, lord Aizen."

* * *

Tsunade and Naruto reached the garganta that had been placed where the Espadas had arrived the last time, they vaguely made out a figure already standing at the strange opening. "Kakashi?" called Tsunade as she and Naruto came to a halt right behind the man.

"Lady Tsunade" Kakashi greeted. "So, you felt it too from way over in the village huh?"

"Kakashi sensei" Naruto started before Tsunade could answer "You didn't tell me you fought first hand with the enemies."

"As I said Naruto, I couldn't disclose some information to you."

"What is this Kakashi?" interrupted Tsunade "Is this related to the incident that happened recently?"

"It is. I don't know what this is exactly but from what I saw, it seems as though they use it as some sort of transportation to Hueco Mundo" replied the white haired ninja.

"I see… At least this makes things easier with infiltrating their unit, frankly it would've taken all night to imitate and stabilise the energy particles needed to materialise one of those things. But I can't ignore the fact that this is all too convenient for us."

"I doubt one of these can just randomly appear, especially when a planned attack happened in this same spot. I can't say I trust it."

"Kakashi, make sure this is kept under strict discretion and nobody enters it. We need to make a strategy before we act but the mission is still underway tomorrow morning, this is becoming a matter of important urgency."

"Wait wait wait" Naruto began "Do we even have a team yet? I mean, Kakashi sensei is strong and you're staring at the future hokage but who knows how many of them are on the other side of that!"

"Well if you didn't storm out of my office, I could've filled you in with the mission details and your assigned squad" retorted Tsunade.

"Seems like our team is already here anyway. I hope you don't mind Lady Tsunade, I called them here when this thing opened."

"Heh" Tsunade let out a small smile "Looks like we can start strategising now after all Naruto."

The blonde haired boy turned around to see Guy, Hinata, Shikamaru, Yamato and Sakura running towards the gaping hole. "You guys!?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Ah so Naruto is on the team too now?" Guy stated "It's always nice having the power of youth on our side" the big browed man said as he held his thumb in the air.

"Don't you stop officially being a youth after the age of 24 though?" Yamato questioned.

"Ha ha! You're only as old as you feel my friend" Guy responded.

"N-Naruto, it's nice to have you…" Hinata greeted without making eye contact although was distracted when she all of a sudden saw Naruto rubbing a swollen lump on his head.

"Owww, Sakura why'd you do that!?" Naruto whimpered.

"You idiot, I overheard your conversation with Lady Tsunade when you ran out of the office, can't you ever just do what you're told?" Sakura lectured wrathfully.

While Sakura was jeering at Naruto, Shikamaru's attention had drifting towards the clouds _"sometimes I wonder why I never went after the apple pie and white picket fence life"_ he thought indifferently.

"That's enough" Tsunade commanded, raising her voice to get the attention of her subordinates "There's time for chit chat later, right now there are more important matters to address, we're wasting daylight. Kakashi, since you'll be leading this mission, what are your thoughts on this?"

"I think our best chance at gathering intel would be through this portal" Kakashi contributed "Although we are unaware of whether this is just a coincidence or if it was sent here on purpose, we now have a way in and our team is made up of ninja who could be tactically compatible with defeating our enemy."

After a moment of silence Tsunade nodded her head in agreement. "Seeing as you've dealt with the enemy, you know how capable our opponents are, I'm trusting you with this Kakashi. You will all be entering through the portal at first light. We'll still use the information we gathered to hold this portal open so there's no risk of you getting stuck over there"

* * *

After going through the mission details with the team, Naruto flopped over his bed on his back as he lightly patted his belly "_Ah, there's nothing like Ichiraku to settle the nerves but I probably ate too much, I feel like I'm gonna explode"_ he thought to himself aloud, not noticing the soft glow around the nine tails seal.

He got off of his bed and started to change into his pyjamas, preparing himself for a good nights sleep. As soon as the the hairs on his head grazed the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep induced by mental exhaustion from stress of the situation that was happening all too fast for him to follow properly.

"Naruto" echoed a low growl "Naruto!"

"Huh?" the blonde haired boy sleepily lifted his hand and groggily waved it side to side as if signalling whoever was calling him to quiet down.

"Naruto, don't ignore me" it growled again, more aggressively this time.

"Who…?" he asked still half asleep.

"Who else could possibly be inside your head besides me you brat."

Naruto's eyes shot open. He was surrounded by water and grim lighting as he stood before large red bars and stared into familiar angry eyes. He almost forgot this place existed within his very self, the place the fourth hokage sealed the kyuubi in.

His eyes narrowed "It's weird how I could feel so awake but yet I'm still asleep" he muttered to himself as he stepped forward slightly. "What do you want? Why are you talking to me after all this time now?"

"As much as I hate being imprisoned in a prat like you, I'd take that over being used by things that aren't of this world. I can help you defeat them easily Naruto, just accept me."

"I know what you're trying to do and I'm not buying it this time, I'm not letting you take control again" Naruto stated with clear resolve as he let his eyes sink down to his feet remembering his attack on Sakura while he had been immersed in the nine tails cloak.

"Don't be stupid boy, every time you've undergone something you can't handle it's my chakra that sees you through. Where do you think you'd be without me?"

"After all these years, I'd think that you would know me better than anyone" Naruto confidently said "I don't need your power, you hear me? Because I can do this without you." The young boy stood in front of the cage as he searched through the darkness to find a trace of the kyuubi besides the crimson eyes that glowed with heavy anger towards the boy. "You're a pest, you know that? But I'm gonna make sure nobody gets to you without getting through me first" Naruto declared with an assuring grin painting the surface of his face "Don't misjudge my own power, even if I'm on my last legs I'll still find a way to take 'em out!"

A silence fell over the conversation as the Kyuubi didn't lift his furious glare from the boy on the other side of the bars. "Don't say I didn't warn you, brat" the crimson orbs slowly faded into the darkness on the opposing side of the cage and everything seemed to fall around the blonde boy left alone in the dark. A small beeping noise was becoming louder and louder until everything became black.

Naruto opened his eyes to see he was in his room with rays of light beaming in through his window over his bed, showering his being in the first rays of light for the day. He lifted his hand and shuffled around for awhile to get his bearings so he could hush the beeping which was his alarm clock.

* * *

Tsunade stood before the ninjas who are assigned to the Hueco Mundo mission with the portal to the other world behind them. They stood in a straight line as she began wishing them good luck as well as reminding them of their roles.

"You are all specifically chosen because you all have some skill that is very valuable for this particular mission. Hinata, you have the Byakugan study the lifeforms there well. Shikamaru, you are one of the finest strategists of your generation. Yamato, you are a member of the Anbu black ops, some of the very finest fighters in Konoha. Guy… well, your will alone ensures you for success and combined with your taijutsu skills, you're practically invincible and Sakura" she said firmly "you've grown into a fine kunoichi but don't engage unless you have to, you are the one medical nin on this team and I'd like everybody to make it back _alive_" Tsunade stated softer than usual.

Sakura gazed up at the older woman as she affirmatively nodded towards her teacher "Yes, my lady. I will do my best, everybody will make it back alive" the young green eyed girl said with a soft smile. Tsunade returned her smile and moved on to see Naruto just arriving and falling into line with the other shinobi.

"You knuckle head" Tsunade started off with "you seemed so keen on this mission and you're late."

"Hey old lady, a young guy like me needs his sleep!"

"What did you-"

"Where's Kakashi sensei?" Naruto interrupted while looking back and fourth over the line up.

"Hm, seems like you're not the last one here after all Naruto" Tsunade said pensively.

"Oh, I like to think I got here a few seconds before him actually" a casual voice said from behind Tsunade.

"Kakashi" Tsunade begun "I can entrust a mission to you, but I can never trust you with timing" she said while shaking her head to some degree. "But never mind that, you have a mission to get to."

Kakashi lifted his shoulders into a shrug "I got stuck helping an elderly woman with her groceries" he lied with curved eyes showing a smile although it quickly faded as his lidded orbs hardened once again as he nodded in agreement with the Hokages statement "But yes lady Tsunade, we should get going now. If time is still the same over on their side then hopefully they aren't morning people."

Tsunade let out a slight chuckle with a hint of a smile. "Now get going, the earlier the better" she said with an unwavering tone.

Kakashi mimicked the way the enemy previously entered the portal before any of the other shinobi, when he stepped inside he was faced with an infinite smothering darkness. Ignoring this, he turned to his comrades and nodded in assurance. "Let's go" he commanded.

Guy ran towards Kakashi and entered the portal "Don't worry, I've got your back old friend" he said confidently as the lidded eyed shinobi was already running ahead of him "Hey, wait!" Guy called out to him.

"Well, I guess we better get this over and done with" Yamato said as he ran into the portal with Hinata, Shikamaru and Sakura following.

"See ya granny Tsunade, this'll be sorted before you know it" Naruto called out over his shoulder with one last wave to the older woman as he ran into the darkness of the large vortex. Tsunade smiled softly at his goodbye. _"I think I made the right decision"_ she thought to herself.

* * *

"So it seems they did come after all." Aizen addressed the Espada as he felt the Shinobis distinct presence as soon as they entered the garganta.

"Lord Aizen, what do you want us to do now? I still have unfinished business with those types." Yammy said trying to control his tone when speaking to the former shinigami.

"Don't worry Yammy, once we find out which one of them we need you can dispose of the others in time. That goes for all of you, for now, we let them find us."

"Pft" Grimmjow scoffed "I bet they aren't even that strong. But it should be fun to watch them battle Ichigo if they happened to run into each other."

"How obtuse" muttered a woman with short blonde hair and beaming green orbs "They'd probably kill each other off with their preconceived impressions of all beings who exist in Hueco Mundo."

* * *

"There's something ahead of us" Kakashi exclaimed to his squad "I think it's an exit."

"It seems to be clear from where we are but we better prepare ourselves" Shikamaru replied.

"Byakugan!" Hinata called as her vision became sharper "If something comes up, I'll let you guys know but because another one of my clan members couldn't detect chakra points when they came to Konoha last, I can't guarantee I'll know for certain."

"That's okay Hinata, just let us know if there's anything you can see up ahead" Kakashi assured.

"This should be interesting Kakashi, it's been awhile since we've been on a mission this mysterious" Guy stated.

"Everyone, we're getting closer" Yamato confirmed "we could come out the other side at any moment."

"Gotcha" Shikamaru responded quietly, concentrating hard on different scenarios that could happen once they break through the end of the portal. _"Oh man, this is such a drag"_ he ended with before preparing for an attack.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Naruto asked quietly as they ran together at the back of the group.

"Yeah, I'm okay" she replied gazing down "I just hope no one gets hurt, I don't know what type of damage these people can do."

"Don't worry Sakura, I won't let anything like that happen and you're a great medical nin! Trust me." Naruto comforted with a large smile and determined bright blue orbs that could almost light the darkness they ran through.

The pink haired Kunoichi felt more motivated than ever for their mission "Thank you, Naruto" she said returning his smile.

"Everybody get ready" Kakashi demanded as they were immersed in a light while they passed straight out through the portal. They all stood armed and ready but to their surprise and suspicion, they were standing in front of a large structure, almost like a fortress in the middle of a desert like land.

"The name Hueco Mundo really does this place justice…" Shikamaru said under his breath, taking care not to draw any unwanted attention.

Everything fell still and silent, the land was dry and cold, it almost felt like what they thought death would be like. Hinata broke the silence as her eyes widened and she gasped, trying to suppress the noise. "I can see faint Chakra points coming this way, three of them."

* * *

**A/N: Well, this is it for chap two :D I hope you enjoyed it! I am also sorry for inaccurate information (I haven't watched Naruto or Bleach in so long but I still love them so much :D) so please bear with me :) Thank you for reading! **


	3. Encounters

_Chapter Three_

_Encounters_

* * *

"It feels like we've been running for ages" Uryu exclaimed.

"Geez Ichigo, first we offer to take you to Los Noches ourselves then you complain about how long it's taking! Rude!" Pesche breathlessly called over his shoulder as he high fived his large companion.

"Yeah! This endangers us too, don'tcha know?!" Dondochakka contributed.

_*Silence*_

"Did you really just mistake me with Ichigo?" Uryuu asked offended.

"Hey, what would be so bad about that!? Take it as a compliment" joked Ichigo.

"What wouldn't be bad about that!?" Uryuu joked back with a hint of honesty.

"We're getting close!" Nel cried while drooling over Ichigo's shoulder.

The group had increased their speed as they approached a large building, with blue skies that couldn't mask the true villainous intentions that hid inside. "Ichigo!" Rukia called out to the boy with the orange hair while she came to a halt in the sand.

"What is it Rukia? We don't have time to rest." Ichigo called back while he continued to stride forward but was suddenly forced to stop when the small shinigami was in front of him and stared deep into his glazed over bronze orbs with a vigilant look. "Rukia…" he regarded her for a moment "I told you, we haven't got the time for this, we need to save Orihime!"

"Dammit Ichigo" Rukia started "Are you blind? If you look hard enough, you should be able to make it out" she said more calmly as she averted her gaze through the sand that impeded their view until hey eyes fixed onto something.

"She's right Ichigo, I don't know about you but I can see it as clear as a shinigami could through all this smut" Renji agreed.

Ichigo concentrated hard through the sand and his gaze soon met six figures standing on the other side of the sand.

"What? What!? Nel can't see anything…" the small arrancar stated as she narrowed her eyes, drooling in concentration as her two masked companions whispered questioningly next to her.

"Wait, quiet" Uryu said "I see what you mean Rukia. Their figures look like ordinary people but that's practically impossible isn't it?"

"Well, we're here aren't we?" Ichigo responded in a small voice.

"Yeah but that's different."

"How is it?" Ichigo retorted "Even though we have these abilities, I still consider myself human. But why would anyone possibly having a reason for coming to a place like this?"

"They could say the same about us." Chad remarked, the first words he's spoken in awhile.

"Nel still can't see" the small Arrancar contributed as Pesche and Dondochakka nodded in agreement. "Absolutely ridiculous! Who cares! If they're people whats the worry!? Let's just keep going!" the slim masked man exclaimed.

"Why you-" Uryuu started.

"Oh lets just go" Renji declared "We'll deal with it when we get there, right now they seem like no big deal."

"Renji!" Rukia called after him as he continued to run through the hazardous grime "Fine, let's go" she called out to the others as they all steadily ran towards the mysterious figures.

* * *

"They're getting closer" Hinata said quietly while narrowing her eyes "they seem like they have been in battle, their chakra flow looks like it's been stimulating for awhile."

"Hinata" Kakashi voiced "Are you sure there's only three?" he asked as he lifted his headband to reveal the rare sharingan.

"Only?" Yamoto echoed "I think three is far more than enough for us, don't you think?"

"Oh come on Yamato, Tsunade said it herself we've been chosen because we possess unique skills worthy enough to face the enemy with. We got this!" Guy said with an assured tone as he flashed his shiny pearls at the team.

"Heh yeah! That's the spirit Guy sensei!" Naruto replied, riled up and ready to fight as he returned Guy's infamous grin while Yamoto and Kakashi exchanged an awkward glance at their team mates comical enthusiasm.

"We're goners" muttered Shikamaru under his breath as Sakura and Hinata silently agreed.

"They're almost here, their chakra points are getting more visible" Hinata said as she raised her voice and peered through the smut, trying to catch a glimpse of their physical forms. Everyone had braced themselves as they stared intently through the sand, trying to identify any form of life that resided in the wasteland.

* * *

"Nel is meeting many humans today" the small Arrancar excitedly voiced while sitting on the substitute Shinihami's shoulder. "Nel can see them now!"

The six figures came into view and the dust had cleared. The diverse group stood in front of the figures as they examined them and in returned was being analysed themselves. Tension had settled and an uncomfortable silence fell over the two different groups.

"A-Are you serious!?" Renji exclaimed, breaking the silence. "They are just plain, ordinary, boring, mundane, weak humans!"

"What did you say!?" Naruto stepped forward irritated before Kakashi blocked his path using his arm while Sakura scoffed at Naruto's outspoken idiocy.

"You heard me pipsqueak" Renji retorted.

"Renji!" Rukia voiced in a firm tone.

"Who are you!?" Ichigo curiously asked raising his voice _"Or what"_ he thought to himself when he took note of how they were dressed and how they almost looked inhuman _"A red eye, a guy with whiskers, that girl with the penetrating eyes, who are these guys?"_

The shinigami's companions stood back as they stared in disbelief at the vulnerable looking humans that stood before them.

_"They don't look like the enemy we fought before"_ examined Kakashi as he examined the odd looking group. He had scanned over each individual, counting as he went along _"six, seven, eight… eight people but only three with chakra points? Which ones are human?"_ he thought as he narrowed his eyes, hoping his sharingan would show him something, anything to do with the enemy.

Shikamaru glanced at Hinata, counting on her byakugan to answer their questions. She had been concentrating hard, carefully trying to unearth every part of their human energies until her eyes had locked onto one of the men in a black robe and strange orange coloured hair. _"That guys hair is as bright as Narutos."_ Shikamaru thought to himself. _"If only there was some way to know what you were seeing, Hinata."_

"I asked you a question" Ichigo said a little aggressively this time. "Tell me, now."

"We are Shinobi of the Konoha" Kakashi started still holding back the blonde haired boy "We were attacked not long ago by…" he trailed off, trying to find the words to explain what exactly those things even were. One of them? No, couldn't be. The white haired shinobi's team had looked to him with assorted expressions but all wondering the same thing. His features exposed a quick look of frustration and anxiety, letting the realisation that their attackers weren't even human finally hit him.

As if reading their team leaders thoughts, the marks that lined Naruto's face in frustration had slowly ceased. "If a creature like the Kyuubi can exist and be sealed inside a guy like me" he began while raising his thumb to point to his stomach "then I guess guys like this can too and we'll defeat them just like my old man did this thing."

Kakashi turned to look at Naruto wide eyed while he slowly let his arm rest at his side. He turned his gaze to his comrades and saw Shikmaru give the blonde haired boy a confident nod then his pink haired student smile assuredly at her friend and he couldn't even miss Hinata's loss of concentration as a rosy tint had painted her pale cheeks. Guy and Yamato still stared at the strange group in front of them but Kakashi could always recognise when they were getting serious.

He stared back to the orange haired boy in front of him, patiently waiting for his answer. His lidded eyes were calm and collected and stared right into the deep brown orbs before him "What do you know about the people with the masks on their faces, a bit like your friend over there" he said while he averted his gaze to Pesche.

"Whaa? Me?!" Pesche asked while flailing his arms in anxiety.

"Don't pick on Pesche, he's not like them don'tcha know?!" Dondachakka tearfully intervened while comforting his small companion.

"Are these guys for real?" Shikamaru muttered raising one eyebrow.

The companions of the masked figures stared embarrassingly at the two arrancars for a moment before returning their attention back to their mysterious guests.

"Don't mind our friends over there" Uryu began as he stepped forward to view the people properly.

"Friends?" the two arrancars looked up at the Quincy in awe not noticing the slight narrowing of Uryu's eyes in embarrassment.

"It's obvious you're just ordinary humans and from the sound of it, it sounds like you had a run in with an arrancar" he explained while pushing his glasses up his bridge slightly. "Why would Aizen want to investigate such a minuscule thing like that though?" he pondered to himself but quickly pushed it aside when his curiosity got the best of him "Do you know why? And how did you get here?"

"Why are you even bothering, we should just send them back to the human world they'll just get in the way." Renii exclaimed impatiently.

"Don't speak about us like we're not here!" Naruto interrupted "If you know anything about those guys, you're gonna tell us right now."

"Yeah? Or what?" Renji responded mockingly.

Naruto had summoned a shadow clone too quickly for the shinigami to even fathom what he was doing. "Or I'll make you!" the blonde haired boy called out running towards the red haired man while a blue light was forming in his hands "Rasengan!"

"What does he think he's-" Renji cried but had quickly sprinted out of the way, sensing this was not a weak attack or a normal human for that matter.

"Naruto!" Kakashi called taking a step forward but stopped when he heard the small purple eyed girl say something only just audible.

"Bind! The wandering knave. Bakudo #1: Sai!" Rukia had distanced herself from the enraged boy before using a kido spell to lock his hands behind his back. The blonde haired boy had lost his footing and sunk into the sand before his rasengan had slowly diminished and his clone had dispersed.

Nel had whimpered behind Ichigo, clinging onto his back.

"I can't move" Naruto choked as he struggled to free himself in the sand.

"Naruto!" Sakura ran towards the blonde haired boy and knelt down beside him to try sit him up. "What did you do to him!?"

"Calm down, he'll be fine. I only bound him to stop him from attacking stupidly. We're not the enemy, we didn't know about any attacks on any other place but Karakura Town. As Uryu previously said, they are Arrancars. We're taking care of this, you should leave." Rukia said assertively before turning her back to address Renji. "And you" she began "Think before you speak, that was no ordinary attack" she said more quietly this time while Renji narrowed his eyes.

"We can't go back now, Kakashi" Guy uttered to his old friend, still not averting his gaze from the strange people.

"Agreed" Yamato encouraged "We can't trust anyone we meet here."

"What do you think?" Guy asked just before turning to Kakashi and flashing a smile "Besides, we can't let them have all the fun."

"I'm thinking that you're right" the white haired man replied to his two comrades.

"Look" Kakashi called to the enemy "We're not here for you. These things you call Arrancars invaded our home and threatened to destroy it, leaving several good people hurt. We're not leaving till we got done what we came here to do." he concluded with resolute eyes.

Rukia turned herself back to face the white haired man "You don't-" she began until interrupted by the orange haired boy who had silently observed them until now.

"I understand" Ichigo stated "If you're serious about this then let's stop wasting time and keep moving instead of causing a commotion right outside of Aizens headquarters."

"Ichigo" Rukia began "Do you know what you're doing?"

"I do, Rukia" Ichigo responded, still staring at the white haired man before him.

"I agree with Ichigo" Chad spoke "We're all here for the same reasons."

"Why should we go with you?" Naruto called out, his voice strained from trying to free himself of Rukia's kido while Sakura was helping him stand.

"I can't tell you that" Ichigo replied "I don't care how you see it but we have the same goal and I may not look it, but I'm just as human as you are."

A silence fell over the group until Shikamaru spoke up "We'll have a better chance in higher numbers. But before you underestimate us and try to pull something, just consider yourself warned already" he assured nonchalantly. "Kakashi?"

The team leader had nodded in agreement, his red globe still gleaming at their new allies. "Do you know why they came for us?"

"We have no clue" Uryu voiced, still curious about the strange group especially after seeing that boy with such a lethal attack.

_"Then they don't know about Naruto"_ Kakashi thought relieved.

"We'll explain the situation to you on the way and you can see where you fit" Renji addressed the white haired man "It's like Ichigo said, we're sitting ducks out here causing a scene."

"So, you're had a change of heart huh?" Yamato questioned.

"If you've all got moves like that idiot over there then I guess you won't be too much of a liability after all." the red haired Shinigami reluctantly replied.

"Then let's get going" Kakashi confirmed. With that, the new formed alliance had ran forward and into the large structure they had stood outside of while, discussing their situation with one another. "Hurry up, Naruto!" Sakura called behind her shoulder.

The blonde boy lagged behind still trying to undo the kido while muttering to himself "Dammit!" he exclaimed "I'm getting out of this thing!" The group had continued to run forward, too absorbed into who this Aizen character was, not noticing Naruto trying to break free except for Rukia who stood between the two groups and watched the boy struggle.

"It's no use" she began "I'm not-" her voice caught in her throat as her eyes widened and she watched the boy release a shockingly large amount of red reiatsu and free his arms from behind his back _"What?!"_ she thought in disbelief. _"I haven't seen anything like this since Ichigo… He shouldn't be able to break that, let alone release all of that reiatsu. Is this why Aizen has taken an interest in these people?"_

The blonde haired boy stretched his arms out before running past Rukia to catch up to the others "Heh, that was too easy shorty!" he called out over his shoulder to her just before sticking his tongue out and turning back to the group, just catching up.

Rukia had snapped out of her pensive state and caught up with the group in nothing short of a flash step, in front of Naruto who was all of a sudden looking back and fourth from where she once was to where she was now, very confused. "How annoying" she muttered. _"Not to be underestimated?"_ she thought remembering Shikamaru's words _"That would be wise"_ she pondered as she continued running with Ichigo and the others, listening into Renji filling in their new allies about Orihime's capture.

The group had approached a five way fork, each leading to different fates. "Dammit" Naruto expressed in frustration.

"This is so typical in buildings like this, what a drag" Shikamaru contributed.

"Hey Dondachakka, I like this guy" Pesche said with folded arms. Shikamaru shuddered subtly.

Another silence crept over the individuals as they observed the pathways presented to them, strategising their next move. Kakashi opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, walls fell down around them, boxing them into smaller groups almost as if their paths had been chosen for them.

"Kakashi sensei! Sakura! Hinata? Everyone!" Naruto yelled from behind one wall while trying to break the thick barrier in front of him. "Can you hear me?"

"Naruto!" Sakura cried "I can hear you, what happened?"

"Calm down everyone" Kakashi said calmly.

"He's right, panicking won't get you anywhere" Naruto heard from behind him. He turned his head to see Renji and Rukia standing with arms crossed over their chest.

"Aren't you guys worried about your friends?!" Naruto responded angrily.

"Naruto" Hinata said while running over to him "What happened?"

"Hinata! I'm so glad you're here" Naruto said relieved, causing a slight blush creep up through her cheeks. "I don't know, it seems like someone knows we're here."

"Is everyone alright?" Ichigo called.

"We're fine" Uryuu replied.

Shikamaru furrowed his brows when he realised he was boxed in with Uryuu and the slim Arrancar. "Like I thought, typical" he muttered to himself annoyed.

"Then I guess we'll just group off like this" Ichigo exclaimed.

"What?!" Sakura turned from the wall to look at Ichigo standing behind her with a small arrancar on his shoulder but then spotted Yamato trying to break through the wall opposite to her. "Captain Yamato!" she called and ran over to him.

"It seems like we haven't got a choice…" he uttered almost disappointed. "Don't worry Sakura, I'm sure we'll meet the others when we get on the other side of the path."

"We have no other way" Guy spoke to Kakashi before they heard a whirl from the wall next to them.

"Rasengan!"

"Naruto wait!" Kakashi called urgently "If the wall doesn't break, that could hurt anyone you're enclosed with, stop right now!"

The whirling wind died down. "Dammit" Naruto exclaimed as his frustration echoed through the building.

"Well, at least we're in this together Kakashi!" Guy stated as he put his arm around his old friend "And we can get to know our knew buddies" he smirked and looked over to Dondachakka and Chad.

Kakashi narrowed his lidded eyes in embarrassment "Like always" he responded while Guy grinned, hearing the smile his friend spoke with.

"Let's keep moving then" Renji addressed everyone as he turned towards the path and entered while Rukia followed.

"Right" Ichigo replied and determinedly began running through his assigned path. Sakura and Yamato exchanged a look and followed the orange haired Shinigami.

The sound of footsteps had slowly silenced and everyone had felt further away from each other, uncomfortable with the unfamiliarity of their new allies and unknown territory. Naruto ran through the white corridors behind Renji and Rukia in silence while Hinata ran next to him. Their footsteps had been all he'd been listening to as they carried on in silence, almost forming a musical composition. This steady beat was disrupted by a slow crescendo as if light footfalls were approaching them. It got louder as it got closer until Naruto realised it wasn't just the four of them on this pathway.

"Wait" he said concentrated as the others stopped.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked while the two Shinigami stared at the boy in both curiosity and annoyance.

"Someones coming" he confirmed as his brows furrowed and he stared ahead, making out a silhouette at the end of the path.

"Looks like he's right" Renji agreed.

"Byakugan" Hinata exclaimed, activating her clans legacy. "He hasn't got any chakra points, this could be the enemy Kakashi sensei fought."

Rukia and Renji exchanged a curious look, wondering what they were talking about and most of all how on earth a human survived if they battled an Arrancar. How did the soul society not know of people like this?

And by the looks of it, not just an Arrancar but an Espada. Rukia's eyes had widened as the silhouette had come into view. "You took Orihime" she exclaimed while narrowing her purple orbs dangerously, clutching the head of her Zanpakuto.

* * *

Ulquiorra Cifer emerged from the other end of the narrow hallway, approaching the divided group with ease, as if he were about to step on a small ants nest. He was uninterested in the shinigami's efforts to aggravate him into battle, instead he scanned the faces of those before him while slightly curious to witness the brute strength of the human that bears the spiritual energy far beyond that of one insignificant shinigami. But who exactly was it? The young girl with the visual ability? Or the one who looked as though he were cowering, curled over himself on the floor. _"Perhaps I've overestimated you"_ the green eyed Espada thought as his eyes locked onto the blonde on the ground and then turned back to the shinigami who seemed as though they could potentially put up a bit more of a fight.

Ulquiorra wasn't intending to waste his time fighting those who were not the person his maker wanted to acquire. "That woman" Ulquiorra began, addressing the shinigami "has already placed her loyalties with Lord Aizen. Your deaths will be in vain." Rukia held her battle stance as she turned to look at Renji, mirroring her expression. "There's no way…" Renji muttered, quietly reassuring Rukia that their friend wouldn't go to a place like this, to people like them, on her own free will.

Naruto dropped to his knees. Everything fell away. His head felt light, his surroundings were spinning, he couldn't understand why until he remembered to breathe. He questioned himself, no, more like doubted himself _"Who is this guy? Why does he feel so... hollow? Can I really do this? But do I have a choice?"_

His enemy wasn't within his sights yet but already, he was overwhelming the young blonde with his spiritual energy. His breath got caught in his throat once more, he struggled to do something so natural, so human, the very first thing he learnt to do when he was brought into the world. "_Breathe_" he tried willing himself, frustrated with his lack of his usual gusto. He was drowning and he could see the blurred silhouette of his opponent breathing just fine.

His throat was dry with anxiety of the unknown, his chapped lips cracked as he parted his mouth to take a deep breath of air. It was then that the world around him had stopped spinning, it was no longer four white walls and the young blonde. Instead, he looked up to find his friend, the girl with the Byakugan, kneeling down beside him calling his name, trying to pull him out of the thoughts that were suffocating him. Although his ears could only pick up nothing but Hinata's muffled consolations towards him.

His lungs were slowly being coated with oxygen, rejuvenating him and making his chakra flow madly through the corridor, pushing away the foreign spiritual pressure with such force as though the battle had already begun. With that, the slim Espada averted his gaze from the guarded shinigami to the young blonde boy who was emitting the claustrophobic aura. _"Perhaps Lord Aizen was right to invest in this boy after all."_ Ulquiorra thought to himself.

He turned his gaze to see his new found comrades baring their weapons which he did not understand at his opponent, only to now be disregarded by the Espada.

Without a second thought, the blonde began to stand on his own, gathering himself together. He shut his eyes and cleared his mind, no longer clouded with doubt, only an insatiable drive to breathe. _"Because unlike them I'm alive, it's my birth right"_ he assured himself with absolute clear resolve. _"He's not going to take that anything from me until I'm down to my very last breath."_

"Naruto" he heard Hinata murmur, his eyes had flung open to see her still kneeling, looking up at him with concern tinting her pastel purple orbs. He flashed her his infamous grin and held out his hand, her look of worry had gradually faded, becoming hopeful and admiration graced her soft features. She lightly took his outstretched hand in hers as he helped her to stand beside him.

"Hey" the red haired comrade called with an annoyed undertone at the two shinobi, which had caught Naruto's attention. "If you're done romancing over there, why don't you pay attention to the situation at hand." The red haired shinigami narrowed his gaze at the espada, now standing in front of them never taking his gaze off of the blonde boy. "This isn't the type of guy you'd wanna take your eyes off" Renji confirmed glaring at the slim espada with his drawn zanpaktou.

Despite what Renji had just said, Rukia had almost been distracted herself by the large amount of chakra the young blonde was exuding. Her eyes had widened the slightest bit, images of Ichigo flooding her mind. _"A few hours ago, I would've refused to believe another human like him could've ever existed... The point remains, Hueco Mundo mustn't have him."_ she silently decided. Her full attention turned back towards to black haired espada who was now swiftly walking towards the young blonde who was standing his ground.

Although Rukia could feel her blood boil at the thought of Aizen's Espada taking her friend, she had to hold back any hasty movements. This was becoming something much bigger than a rescue mission even though that was still what Rukia's main priority. _"But right now, there's nothing we can do for that boy but watch what he'll choose to do"_ the small shinigami silently mused, narrowing her eyes and never letting her guard down for a second.

Naruto turned from Renji and had turned his attention to where the espada had stopped right in front of him. The young blonde was taken back by his enemy's appearance, analysing him from the tip of his pointed horns until his gaze had stopped at eye level.

It was then that blue met green for the first time, Naruto's innocent pure blue orbs were being penetrated by the encapsulating stare of deep teal globes until the young blonde had caught sight of a large dark hole in the strangers chest. Although this had momentarily distracted Naruto and made him even more curious, he didn't waver from his previous resolve, his chakra grew thicker and aggressive getting ready for victory, pushing back the slim Espada's intimidating energy. At this, Ulquiorra was sure that he had found what he came here to collect, wanting to test the limits of this unknown entity, the Espada had allowed his spiritual pressure to dissipate the smallest bit.

The young blonde's confidence was growing, not breaking eye contact with the teal orbs that threatened him silently until he saw a glimmer of condescending amusement flash in the dark pools of teal. Narutos blue orbs had widened almost unnoticeably although it was unlikely the raven haired espada couldn't see his confusion. "It's pointless trying to resist, boy. You can either come with me or I can break your legs and take you with me." the Espada's silky voice broke the silence with unflinching and natural confidence.

Naruto scoffed, his chakra turning crimson, as vibrant as fire itself and as bold as a fox's coat against snow as white Ulquiorra's pale skin "Heh, good luck cos I'm not going with you either way, shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto's husky voice echoed throughout the corridor with conviction.

"How troublesome" Ulquiorra thought "It seems as though he will not come with me without a fight."


	4. Team work

_Chapter four_

_Team work_

* * *

Aizen had been observing Ulquiorra's confrontation with the young blonde in his conference room accompanied by the other nine Espada. "Oh?" he expressed with interest as he delicately balanced a cup between his callused fingers. "So, it seems we've found him" he continued with a growing smirk forming on his lips "It'll be interesting to see how Ulquiorra decides to bring him to me."

A loud bang on the table shaking the cutlery that lay formally on the surface broke Aizen's concentration. As the former shinigami looked up, he found Grimmjow making his way towards the exit of the room. He rested his elbow on the side of his chair as he placed his cheek on his knuckles, giving Grimmjow's back an amused yet questioning look. The blue haired Espada fell to his knees under the sudden spiritual pressure that had been thrown on top of him, almost forcing him to bow. "I'm afraid I wasn't finished talking to you, Grimmjow jeagerjaques. Would you like to return to your seat?"

"_Dammit_" the fierce blue haired Espada thought as the spiritual pressure of his lord was taken off of his back. He shot Aizen a look of disdain for a split second before looking down and standing back up. "Look, I get that we have to be patient but what about those other pests running around our hallways? I have a score to settle with Ichigo Kurosaki" he said with bitter emphasis on the young shinigami's name.

The other Espadas had scrutinised their comrade as though he were just wasting time. "Can't you just follow Lord Aizen's orders, you fool" echoed a female Espadas voice.

"Harribel?!" Grimmjow spat, his blood had slowly started to boil as he heard a soft snicker coming from Nnoitora making his deep blue orbs flash with malicious intent.

"Though I appreciate your intentions Grimmjow, I'd prefer if you stayed here for now" was Aizens reply. The enraged Espada had blown a fuse, his short temper had completely been destroyed although he had stood tall, staring at Aizen, holding back his frustrated glare and not letting the others see just how much he despised them in that moment. Taking a deep breath, he nodded once then made his way back to his seat. "Thank you, Grimmjow" the former shinigami casually said turning back to the screen which revealed Naruto and Ulquiorra.

"Be patient" he continued, addressing all of the Espada's. "We have all the time we could ask for, they're in our territory right now" he concluded with a slight grin.

The blue haired Espada kept his gaze down on the table, trying not to tell his 'lord' how stupid waiting around would be. _"But you just wait Ichigo, you're mine"_ he assured himself, his eyes widening as a wide smirk formed across his features.

* * *

"Wait, so let's go over this" Ichigo announced after a moments silence after their departure from the others. He could hear a sigh from Sakura coming from behind him. "Hey, it's not my fault there's two of you and one of me! Remembering one name is hard enough."

"I guess that's fair enough, I can't say I remember yours very well either" Yamato agreed.

Sakura could have sworn she saw the heroic orange haired boy pout for a moment at her former captains words before he changed the topic. "So, now that we've told you about why we're here, why don't you give me a bit more detail on why you are?"

The two shinobi had exchanged glances, searching for a look of approval from each other. There was an awkward silence between the three until Yamato decided he could trust Ichigo to tell him that much. "From what you've all told us and what's happened in our village not long ago, I'm guessing that we're here to stop Aizen. We know we can't just be ignorant to the fact that he'll probably have no problem with getting rid of us…" he said hesitantly "but for now, we just have to ensure Naruto's safety and eliminate the ones that came to us first." he finished confident in his mission.

"What? The guy Rukia had bound, right? But why do they want him so badly?" Ichigo interrogated, genuinely confused. "He seemed like such a knucklehead when I first met him."

"We don't know the answer to that yet" Yamato lied, heaving his worried gaze towards Sakura who had also had her gaze turned down to the ground as they ran, knowing full well why they would want someone like Naruto.

"How long have we been running for now" Sakura complained, desperately trying to avoid the rest of their current conversation.

"Geez, you're starting to sound like Uryuu" Ichigo joked, feeling slightly comforted that they could be just as human as he was.

"What did you-" Sakura started before Yamato's curiosity got the better of him.

"Wait, who exactly was Uryuu again?" he interjected.

"You know the guy with the glasses and the funny looking outfit" Ichigo replied casually.

"Were you just comparing me to him!?" the kunoichi questioned offended while a small amused smile had played on Yamato's lips.

"Wha-? No! Not comparing, you just said-" the shinigami stopped mid sentence and his eyes had narrowed.

The two shinobi mimicked his sudden stop as they carefully looked around themselves, noticing they came out of the thin corridors and into a hexagonal looking basement with a staircase on the other side. Before their eyes could follow, two Arrancars had appeared before them, blocking their way to get to their exit.

"Where do you think you're going, intruder?" spoke an arrancar with large spikes trailing down his back with four needle looking spikes coming from the left side of his face. Behind them, they heard an inhuman growl, as they turned around there was a larger arrancar with a larger form, longer arms and a mask which had only covered his eyes and nose. Sakura and Yamato stared wide eyed at the foreign entities, almost forgetting they were there to save Konoha and not to gape at these things they only heard in scary stories.

"Sakura, Yamato, right?" Ichigo called, trying to recall their names. "These" he began "are what we call Arrancars" he lectured them while keeping a smug look from appearing on his face.

"Uh huh" Sakura uttered softly, still very surprised at what she was looking at. She was still nodding her head at Ichigo's words as she gazed up at the large Arrancar towering over her.

"These guys just look more like ordinary hollows if I had to be honest with you, the Espada's really aren't as scary as these ones we have here" Ichigo continued "This should be too easy" he concluded.

"Easy? The Arrancar with the needle-like form echoed offendedly. "Demoura on the other hand, I can understand being an easy defeat but you dare say that about me?!"

"Shut your face, Aisslinger" the other lanky Arrancar barked "I'm far stronger than you are even without your-" Demoura had suddenly been sent flying into the far right wall.

"Oh, how about you both shut up!? I've got a mission to complete and I'm already sick of looking at you so called Ar-ran-cars" Sakura yelled towards the fallen being with fire in her eyes, playing with their given name with contempt.

"What in the world…" Ichigo spoke to himself with shock as he eyed the small pink haired girl in front of him. "_No way! There is no way she's this strong. It had to be a fluke."_

With that, she ran towards Demoura who was still trying to regain his composure _"Heh, so he's this slow? Let's hope his size doesn't make up for it"_ the small pink haired girl thought to herself as she quickly lunged herself towards the Arrancar, throwing her fist towards his mask once again, before she could become into contact with it she had found her fist being countered by Demoura's with just as much force as her own.

She had fallen back, both feet landing hastily on the ground. Her brows furrowed, now in concentration. _"He counteracted my attack with the same amount of strength as my own, did he somehow copy my technique? No, impossible. The only plausible reason he can do that is because he's trying to gather as much spiritual energy into his fist like I do with my chakra."_

"Sakura! Are you alright?" Yamato asked with concern.

She turned slightly but not taking her eyes off of the Arrancar glaring at her "I'm fine" she replied "you worry about that guy" motioning her head to Aisslinger who was watching the small pink haired girl and his comrade with amusement. Yamato nodded in agreement and turned to his opponent.

"And Sakura" the girl's former captain began "good luck."

The pink haired girl smiled and nodded once as she once again lunged towards her opponent _"I haven't used this one in awhile but thanks to watching him, I have an idea"_ she thought as a picture of a grinning twelve year old Naruto with his arms folding behind his head had flashed in her mind. She smiled softly to herself as she folded her hands into a sign _"Shadow clone jutsu"_ she whispered, creating another self.

Ichigo stood back, watching in awe. _"Should I step in at some point? Would that be like a disrespectful thing to their people or something if I did though? They've never even fought Arrancars before, do they know what their doing? Oh man, I'm not ready to deal with this, shinigami is one thing but actual people like this? No way. I'll just watch for now."_

Demoura's eyed widened and he looked at both of the pink haired girls, only observing them as if trying to comprehend what had just happened. _"Did she poison me with her last punch maybe? I'm seeing double"_ he thought dumbfounded. As the clone ran and lunged at his aggressively, he instinctively lifted his arm and pulled back his arm before pushing it forward towards his enemy. _"Did I get her?"_ he thought irritated, trying to see through all the smoke that seemed to had appeared out of nowhere.

Before he could see what had happened, he heard an ear cracking smash as he realised it was his mask shattering. Being unable to hold himself up, he stumbled backwards and fell into the wall behind him, almost going straight through it. The real Sakura had come straight through the smoke and landed one powerful punch right in the middle of the Arrancars mask. "CHA!" she cheered to herself proudly, fist bumping into the air while being watched by Ichigo who had one thin eyebrow arched in amusement by seeing her reaction to defeating her first Arrancar.

"I did it!" Sakura chimed, fidgeting in the one spot until she turned to catch a glimpse of Ichigo watching her. She immediately stopped and looked down as a slight shade of pink crept across her cheeks in embarrassment. Before she could try and justify her excitement, she remembered Yamato was still in battle.

"Captain Yamato!" she yelled while running towards him.

Her former captain held his arm out to his side "I'm fine, Sakura. Stay with Ichigo."

Sakura paused in her spot and nodded, holding her arms close to her sides in suspense.

"And what could you possibly do to me?" Aisslinger looked at Yamato in disgust, he was paired against a human, how degrading. After observing his comrades fight with the young girl, he had concluded that her powers were impressive but Demoura had just been too stupid to actually do anything about it. "_That won't happen to me_" he thought to himself as his eyes narrowed towards Yamato who mirrored his concentrated expression.

"Let's finish this quickly" Yamato said, ignoring the Arrancars previous question.

"Let's" Aisslinger agreed before four arms appeared from the rear of his cloak which had started to fire energy blasts at Yamato.

"Wood style" Yamato cried towards his opponent confidently "wood locking wall." A large brown dome appeared over him as a defence, leaving black burnt spots on the outside where the energy had been shot towards the ninja.

"I-I… Ah.. wh…what?!" Ichigo's eyes had widened slightly with disbelief. _"A small looking girl with super strength and a guy who can make wood appear out of nothing? I wonder how they'll react to my mask, whether it'd be a shock to them or not to see it."_ Ichigo continued to ponder.

"_What_?!" The insect-like Arrancar thought, shocked. _"But that's impossible"_

"You shouldn't take your eyes off of your enemy, they don't teach you much here do they?" Yamato yelled at his opponent while running towards him with tremendous speed before forming hand signs which had suddenly made wooden roots come from the ground and entangle his enemy within it.

"Are you calling me stupid?" Aisslinger yelled, enraged. "I may not know how you're preforming these things to appear but they can't hold me. You'll be lucky to not receive all 108 shots of my Uña Tirotear at once!" With that, an overwhelming burst of energy was shot from the Arrancar and coming straight for the stunned shinobi. Quickly, Yamato summoned a thick wooden wall to shield himself and his two companions from the toxic energy.

As strong as the wood was, it couldn't withstand all 108 shots and a part of the wall had faltered, Aisslinger heard his opponent grunt in pain and this had sent a satisfying feeling of accomplishment through his body. The Arrancar had grinned in victory and started to walk towards the tatted remains of the ninja's wooden protection.

"Wood style!"

The Arrancar saw multiple long wooden stakes coming his way, straight through his body and right out the other end all too quickly. Was he really just impaled? He couldn't believe it, it was all too surreal. He looked around himself, realising he was now pinned to a wall with his opponents weapon going straight through his stomach. He looked up to see the three humans unscathed.

_"So, he planned it all did he?"_ Aisslinger had confirmed to himself. The walls had started to shake, bits of rock had started coming down. "You're not going to make it out of here in one piece, I promise you that much" the struggling Arrancar called to Yamato with disdain, almost amusement. "By making it out of here alive, you've only earned yourself a slower and more painful death than you would've had by my hand."

The three allies had stood and watched the defeated Arrancar break out into a dark chuckle as the walls started to corrode and break down. "Let's get out of here" Yamato muttered to his team mates as they started running towards the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, the rumbling had dissipated and their pace had slowed, it was only a matter of time before they reached the top.

"You know" Ichigo started, breaking the silence "considering you guys haven't fought Arrancars before, you didn't do half bad" he subtly praised with a straight face, staring forward.

"It helps knowing your opponent but sometimes battle experience and the ability to strategise really helps out" Yamato said feeling quite pleased with himself and Sakura. He looked over at his pink haired team member to check on how she has been doing only to see a blush creep into her cheeks.

_"That really happened"_ Sakura thought, inwardly burying her face in her palms as she thought back to her childish way of coming out victorious against her vicious opponent.

_"What was that about?_" Yamato thought, turning back to face Ichigo's back in front of him. "It's amazing Nel had been sleeping peacefully hanging onto your shoulder like that this entire time" Yamato noticed, just letting how shocking that really is sink in.

Ichigo scoffed. "Yeah, she's really something" he stated sarcastically.

"How long have we even been on these stairs, they never end!" Sakura said still trying to push down her embarrassment.

"You're sounding a lot like-" Ichigo started before he saw a flash of pink run past him and he all of a sudden felt an unpleasant sensation on the back of his head.

"Don't even start with that again!" she shouted in frustration.

"Did.. Did she just hit me?" Ichigo asked stunned as he stared after the retreating girls back.

"Ah, yeah, she tends to do that" Yamato answered scratching the back of his head with one hand.

"H-Hey! Wait!" Ichigo called to Sakura, avoiding him.

Yamato stared at Ichigo and Sakura as they playfully ran circles around each other while a soft smile started to play on his lips. _"So this is my current team huh? I hope the others are alright."_


	5. Checkmate

_Chapter five_

_Checkmate_

* * *

"So, you're telling me you're a Quincy? And you can absorb spiritual energy from our surroundings as long as there is any, combine it with your own energy and then manifest weapons from it?" Shikamaru reviewed what Uryu had informed him of, just so he understood all the details.

"Well… yes. In short, we can manipulate spiritual energy and use it for our own purposes. There's plenty of it around us in Hueco Mundo, so I shouldn't exhaust my resources any time soon."

"I wish my chakra worked like that" Shikamaru sighed.

"I guess in a way, spiritual energy is chakra. Only you're combining it with your physical energy as well instead of solidifying concentrated bursts of spirit energy. They just come out in different forms. But of course, Chakra does have more dominant spirit particles because of that physical energy. What do you specialise in?"

"Hm, that sounds about right. Ninjustu I guess but that's just cos it runs in our clan. Doesn't mean I'm good at it. I think throughout training, sensei made me play Shogi with him more than anything else." Shikamaru concealed a faint smile, remembering his easy matches against Asuma.

A loud noise echoed throughout the corridor. "What was that? It sounded like a car crashing into a wall but we all know that's impossible right now" Uryuu turned to look at Shikamaru as if expecting some sort of explanation.

"With everything I've seen today, it might just be possible" uttered the brown haired boy nonchalantly "do you reckon one of the others have ran into one of those Arrancars?" he continued after a long silent few seconds.

"Perhaps… But they're not to be underestimated" the quincy replied briskly.

"Heh, didn't say they weren't" Shikamaru discreetly smiled as he tucked his hands deep into his pockets and stared at the ceiling of their confined space. _"This is such a drag"_ he thought to himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Ahh…Ah…hhha…ACHOO"

Uryu felt a wet substance seep through the back of his clothing, he paused with a look of disgust while he slowly reached behind him to cautiously get some idea of what had just happened.

"Eww, you're touching it" Pesche sniggered quietly with his hands over his masks mouthpiece, observing the quincies actions. This remark made Uryu freeze with a slight shiver running down his back.

"And… what exactly am I touching?!" he asked, raising his voice while he slightly turned his head towards the nervous arrancar.

"Oh come on, Ichigo! Lighten up, you should be proud to have some of my infinite slick on your back, who knows when you gotta make a quick get away you could easily just-"

"Oh be quiet!" the quincy barked frustratedly "For the last time, I'm Uryu! How do I get this 'infinite slick' off anyway?" he muttered.

"Fine, Uryu. Some people just can't appreciate fine art. If you really must clean it off then have this" the arrancar reached for his loincloth before the quiet shinobi grabbed his slender wrist.

"Urh, I don't mean to interrupt but there's no need for drastic measures" Shikamaru released Pesche as the Arrancar stared at the new stranger. "Just take this" the brown haired boy took out a neatly folded handkerchief from the left pocket of his vest and tossed it to the quincy, who was a bit reluctant to touch it at first but caught it with quick reflexes nonetheless. "It's perfectly clean, new actually" the brown haired boy started while he turned to look at the quincy lazily "you never know when you'll need one."

"Uh, thanks" replied the raven haired boy staring at Shikamaru's back, almost wonderstruck.

Pesche patted Uryu's back above where the previous infinite slick was. "Wow Uryu, why can't you be as cool as Naruto over there? He almost looks as strong as chad! Ha!" the thin arrancar then ran to catch up with Shikamaru, looking over his shoulder "you better hurry up slow poke!" he called to the quincy.

Uryu casted one last glare towards the arrancar before cleaning the thick slime off of his back. As he made his way up his shirt, he found a newly smeared patch of infinite slick below his shoulder blades where Pesche had just touched him. A murderous look flashed in the raven haired boys eyes just before speeding up to catch up with the arrancar. "Pesche!" he screamed angrily.

"Help me, Naruto!" the thin arrancar yelled to Shikamaru who had paid no attention seeing as it wasn't actually his name.

_"Yep, all I wanted to do was take care of the village and everyone back home. But now I get stuck in a creepy place with this creepy arnica… arnica, was that it? Well, whatever he is, getting my name wrong and goes on to call me Naruto. But I guess those two can catch up eventually."_ Shikamaru dug his fists into his pockets once more.

* * *

"Hey" Ichigo called addressing the two shinobi running behind him "do you see that light? We're close to an exit!"

"Alright!" Sakura exclaimed in triumph "finally!"

"Don't get too excited yet, be on your guards" Yamato warned.

* * *

Uryu and Pesche continued to bicker around the irked shinobi until he had made a sudden stop in his tracks. "Can you guys hear what I'm hearing?" he asked, arching one eyebrow. This made the arrancar and the raven haired boy stop in their awkward pursuit of one another and listen for what the shinobi had brought to their attention. Soon enough, the sound of fast paced footfalls were within clear hearing range.

Pesche ran backwards, to hide behind his pursuer. If looks could kill, the thin arrancar would have died a thousand times over with Uryu glaring daggers at him. The brown haired boy carefully slid his hand towards his leg holster for convenient access to his weaponry. "Where is that possibly coming from? There's only two directions." he pondered.

Shadows started to form at the other end of the corridor, slowly becoming darker the faster they had approached. "Shouldn't we be on our way by now?" Pesche quietly voiced to the other two boys as he turned back and started creeping away.

"Quincies don't run" Uryu replied confidently as he continued to loop his index finger around the head of one of the Seele Schneiders hanging around his waist. A hue of orange appeared at the end of the corridor until it became a recognisable head of hair belonging to Ichigo Kurosaki. Uryu's hand immediately fell away from the Seele Schneider and he sighed with both disappointment and relief. "So it seems our paths led to the same place then, Ichigo?"

"U-Uryu!? Hey, Uryu! I never thought I'd be glad to see your face" Ichigo replied back, gaining momentum as he ran towards his friend in anticipation.

"Huh, Ichigo?!" Pesche turned with a breath of relief then studied the shinigami until he noticed a small teal haired girl flopped over Ichigo's shoulder with an arrancar mask. "Nel!?" Nel! Is Nel alright?! What did you do to her shinigami!?" Pesche hastily ran towards the child in care while Ichigo slowed down, ready to be tackled.

"Hang on a minute!" the orange haired boy exclaimed holding one arm up in his defense "she's perfectly fine, she's just sleeping"

"Oh" Pesche stopped scratched the top of his mask with one finger "of course you wouldn't let anything happen to Nel!"

"Ichigo always protects Nel" the small Arrancar spoke out groggily while hoisting herself up on the shinigami's shoulder.

"So you're awake?" the shinigami spoke with a smile.

"Did Nel miss anything?" she asked, looking up at the shinigami with her grin spreading from ear to ear.

"Nothing important" he responded while passing her to Pesche who eagerly held his arms out.

"Wait, if he's with you then… Yamato? Sakura?" Shikamaru patiently observed two more shadows following the shinigami and in no time, he saw yamato and Sakura's vibrant pink hair. He smiled to himself, feeling calmer. _"They made it out just fine."_

"Shikamaru!" Sakura ran past Ichigo who watched her speed towards the brown haired boy then come to a halt in front of him "I'm so glad we were able to meet up with you, I had no idea where we were going or what way!"

"I trust you had no issues on your way here? Have you seen any of the others yet?" Yamato asked still casually walking towards the pair.

"So far we haven't ran into any obstacles and I hope it stays that way. Unfortunately, we've ran into no one else but you guys. What about you?"

"We had a brief encounter with two Arrancars but according to Ichigo, they were weaker than the Espadas. It was nothing we couldn't handle though. Don't let their appearance throw you off." Yamato never broke eye contact with Shikamaru as he informed him of their experience.

"Wow" Shikamaru gathered "So basically… we've just gotta expect the unexpected."

"You'll be fine" Uryu contributed "from what Shikamaru was telling me before, your chakra is essential to your success. In this place, as long as you have that, you have a chance."

"As Uryu said" Ichigo started "you have a chance. But with Espada… if they really are your goals right now, you're going to need to save all your spirit- I mean, chakra. Don't waste it on low ranking Arrancars like the ones back there."

"Are your friends like you guys?" Sakura asked, making eye contact with Ichigo. "Will they tell our comrades useful stuff like you are?"

"Truth is, I don't know" the shinigami maintained eye contact "they're good people, Sakura. Rukia risked her life for my family and I the first night I met her, I barely even knew her" he continued, looking down for a brief moment, recollecting the night he made his connection to the soul society. And to Rukia. He looked back into the young pink haired girls green orbs. "I know that when push comes to shove, it's just in their nature to put their life on the line for good people."

_"I guess that's something we all have in common then"_ Yamato contemplated over Ichigo's words.

* * *

"I may have changed the corridors up a little but my my, I didn't expect to catch this many of you at once" echoed an excited voice throughout the hall. "Looks like that staircase led to somewhere useful for once" it continued with a humourless chuckle.

"Where is that coming from?!" Ichigo exclaimed, searching the corridor although there was not much to look at in the only two directions it had.

"I don't see anything" Yamato contributed.

A muffled noise of gears clacking against each other had appeared just behind the wall they were standing in front of. All their eyes had met at a certain point on the enclosure in front of them until a large entrance appeared revealing a tall, slim man with pale pink hair and thin, devious amber orbs that were now gleaming at every person in front of him.

"Of course you didn't see anything" the tall man mocked the shinobi.

"And who're you?" Shikamaru asked with his usual nonchalant facade, his fist tightened inside his pockets. The brown haired shinobi's question seemed to have humoured the unknown man as he regarded Shikamaru for a moment and shot him a smirk.

"How rude of me, I know all of you yet none of you seem to know who I am." He strode towards the centre of the corridor, as if he owned it. "My name is Szayelaporro Granz, the 8th Espada in the Arrancar hierarchy. I like to think of myself as the brain of the Espada, the scientist you could say. I haven't had the chance to collect much data on most of you gathered here but I came here now to collect some myself" he proclaimed as if he were making a speech. His smirk subsided and his eyes narrowed.

"I shouldn't have asked" Shikamaru sighed, hanging his head for a moment before gluing his eyes on this scientist again vigilantly.

"What… does he mean by collect data?" Sakura uttered to herself in distress.

Ichigo grabbed the head of Zangetsu which was balancing gracefully on his back. "If you're an Espada then I have business with you. Where is Orihime?" Zangetsu was now threatening the tall Espada's slim neckline, glowing in sync with the orange haired shinigami's anger. "Tell me."

"Heh" Szayelaporro chuckled for a few moments before clearing his throat and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Please" he began while placing the tip of his index finger on one side of Zangetsu and pushing it away from his throat. "Don't disrespect me with that measly thing, I have quite a lot of data on you Ichigo Kurosaki" he concluded with his wide smirk returning to his face.

"But if you must know, she's been given a very modest room in Las Noches, she really has been a good sport so far. I honestly didn't expect her to pledge her loyalty to Lord Aizen so quickly but she did as she was told as soon as she was asked." Szayelaporro grinned at Ichigo who was now glaring at him, gritting his teeth together. The tall Espada knew he was pushing every button he knew Ichigo had just to receive some sort of violent reaction. But this? "_How pathetic"_ he decided, loosing interest. "It's not like it's some big secret, she's simply our comrade now, your visit here has been a complete waste" Szayelaporro concluded with a shrug.

"You… There's no way Orihime would ever!" Ichigo screamed as he trailed off and proceeded to raise Zangetsu, ready to bring it down on the calm Espada who stood, ready. The orange haired shinigami felt slender warm fingers wrap around his wrist, hastily he turned to find Uryu standing behind him, holding him back from entering a battle with the 8th Espada. "Uryu, what're you doing!?" Ichigo questioned.

"Don't fall into his trap Ichigo, he just told us he was going to collect some data and you just happened to indirectly volunteer. If there's one useful thing you did do just now, it's finding out where Orihime is. We can't entirely trust that what he said was true… but it's something and we're close. You and the others carry on, I'll stay and take care of this one" the quincy motioned towards the now irritated Espada while he unwrapped his hand from his friends wrist.

For a brief moment, Ichigo stared at his friend clearly still distressed and angry but he obediently slung Zangetsu over his shoulder and hesitantly smiled at Uryu. "Catch up as soon as you can, alright?" he voiced softly.

Uryu scoffed and returned his friends smile "of course."

"Sakura, Yamato, you go with Ichigo then. Find Naruto and the others, I'll stay here with Uryu and help take care of this guy" Shikamaru said while averting his gaze to the Espada and pinching the bridge of his nose_ "Out of 10 Espadas, I get the creepy scientist?"_

Sakura smiled at the brown haired Shinobi "Be careful, Shikamaru."

"Pesche, take Nel and go with them as well, you'll just be in the way." Uryu addressed the thin Arrancar blantly.

Pesche had no problem with this as he wasn't too thrilled to get into an altercation with an Espada, especially Szayelaporro "Uh, I know I'm a great battle asset and everything but I'll leave it to you Uryu!" he nervously said as he waved goodbye with the one hand that wasn't holding Nel.

The two shinobi and Arrancars followed the orange haired shinigami while he shot one last glare at the Espada before turning to walk through the new corridor the 8th Espada had opened just moments before. Szayels grin faded and he watched the three humans leave the hallway. _"It's a shame just letting them go like this but they weren't my assigned task anyway. The Quincy though, will make a spectacular test subject. I'm not sure about a boring human though."_

The raven haired boy and the young ninja observed their enemy who stood directly in front of them before passing a quick glance at each other, both looking like they were thinking the same thing. "_Will we just be in each others way?"_

Shikamaru's eyebrows came together in concentration until they broke apart and relaxed. "So Uryu" he said, breaking the silence. "My sensei always referred to me as the knight during our shogi matches. Now that we're in the same position, I'd say we're both knights."

_"What is he talking about during a time like this?"_ Uryu thought dumbfounded _"we're facing an Espada and he's talking about shogi kn— a knight can move one square forward then one space diagonally. If I had to calculate where our positions are right now, that would mean if we moved a knight in a game of shogi, both of us would take him out of the game. Only we aren't limited to only moving two spaces. Is he trying to devise an attack plan with me using shogi of all things?"_ The raven haired boys eyed narrowed as he an glanced an understanding look the young ninjas way while his lips curled upwards. _"Shikamaru, you're not as dumb as you are lazy"_ he gratefully thought.

A light hearted chuckle broke out from the pink haired espada, he leaned forward and gripped his stomach as if to calm himself. "Shogi? You're talking about such a menial board game like Shogi at a time like this?" he took a deep breath and straightened his spine before exhaling. "You should know underestimating your opponent more likely results in failure. Talking about that while you're facing me? How disrespectful."

His grin quickly fell and his amber orbs flashed with malice at the two boys before realising his body had become immobilised. "What is this?" he grimly asked the young ninja whose fingers were laced together, perfectly preforming his shadow possession jutsu.

"Nothing you need to know about." Shikamaru quickly informed the Espada, not wanting him to pick up on the secret behind any of his techniques although he knew by watching enough television, it was almost impossible to hide anything from the mad scientists. _"He'll figure it out eventually. I better be quick"_ he thought before addressing Uryu who was staring wide eyed at the paralysed 8th Espada then back at the young ninja who, if he wasn't mistaken, started to tremble slightly. "Your move."

The young quincy promptly reached for his Seele Schneider, quickly activating it as he readied his bow to take his aim. Tilting his head to the side slightly, he pulled his arm back while perfecting his aim, wanting to pierce his target right on point. With this, he loosened his grip on the string and allowed the Seele Schneider to effectively glide through his fingers and penetrate the Espada's stomach.

The tall Espada fell to his knees after a few moments, his gaze turned towards the ground in front of him. The quincy observed curiously, the fight wasn't over until his opponent completely hit the ground. _"Did we get him?_" Shikamaru thought cautiously to himself. Those few moments had felt as though they stretched out into an eternity for the two young boys watching the seemingly defeated Espada until the Seele Schneider has started to dissipate into the air and the only remaining part clattered to the ground.

Szayel's shoulders started moving in an awkward motion, it wasn't until he turned his gaze back up to the two young boys they realised he was laughing. Laughing? That definitely wasn't a good sign. He got to his knees and chuckled to himself manically, seeming perfectly fine.

"It was quite the risk I took by taking a Seele Schneider to the stomach but by researching your kind Quincy, it was easy to deflect your attack in ways even you wouldn't understand!" The Espadas chuckle subsided and his grin fell when he set his amber orbs on the young shinobi. _"I wasn't quite able to work out his technique in one move… But if I cut his hands off, he shouldn't be a problem. But I want his body in one piece for my research. Ugh sometimes my scientific duty gets in the way of how I'd truly like to deal with these people but I guess that's that then. I'll just break his fingers instead."_

Behind the Espada, two round beings appeared. Were they even Arrancars? They had long, thin, lanky arms and extremely round bodies, bouncing from foot to foot. "Master Szayelaporro! Master Szayelaporro!" they hummed in perfect sync.

"What the hell…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath, exchanging an equally confused look with the Quincy.

"Lumina, Verona. As of now, I don't need you. They were a lot more predictable than I thought." the pink haired Espada casually stated.

"Shikamaru" the quincy said loud enough for only Shikamaru's ears to hear. "do you trust me?"

The brown haired boy shot Uryu a quick glance, as if assessing him one last time. "I guess I don't have a choice but to."

"In shogi, I use the pawns to get close to the king as obviously as possible without getting wiped out. But really, it's my bishop who prevails." the quincy voiced while grabbing his Seele Schneider once again.

_"Is he actually asking me to be a distraction? At this rate, he'll definitely find out how my shadow possession jutsu works. But if Uryu comes through maybe this guy won't have a chance to use it against me later. What a drag."_

"Shogi?" the Espada interrupted as his eyes widened "You still haven't realised that you should be more concerned about me rather than your insignificant game of Shogi?" he stopped when he felt his leg move against his will. "What is this?" His other leg started to step in front of the other one before he realised he was walking and then before he knew it, his pace had turned into a run. As he looked up it was revealed he was in step with the young ninja.

_"I should've broke his fingers when I had the chance"_ the Espada thought bitterly, glaring at the young ninja _"but I don't want to kill him without knowing his secret first. At least I now know that his ability isn't limited to just one spot, in fact, it's mimicry."_

"You talk too much, you know that?" Shikamaru regarded the pink haired Espada as they ran towards each other, mirroring each others exact movements before Shikamaru came to a halt and reached towards his leg holster. "But lucky for me, in this place, none of you happen to have these things around your legs that I have to get out of the way first. Or we'd just end up killing each other."

"_But what is the medium he uses to gain control of my movements?"_ the pink haired Espada spat to himself "how pathetic. That alone can't stop me, is this all? Humour me more, shinobi." Szayel's pride had forced him to resist leaning down and touching the leg holster that wasn't there, instead he stood his ground, staring at Shikamaru with a grin. "It's an impressive technique" he began "but it's really not that strong. Congratulations on simply making me stand in one spot." he ended sarcastically.

The young ninja furrowed his eyebrows. "_He's strong enough to resist my shadow possession jutsu at this stage. But as long as he stays still, this should work."_ He opened his leg holster and pulled out a small sharp kunai which a small piece of paper hung from. "Well, that was the plan" Shikamaru revealed with a small smile appearing on his face.

With that, he slung forward the kunai with perfect precision towards the Espadas chest as Szayel mimicked the act of throwing forth something only to be on the receiving end as the kunai pierced the left hand side of his chest, followed by a large explosion. "_Thank you explosive tags._" Shikamaru thought with a grin, releasing his jutsu on Szayel.

The smoke cleared and the pink haired Espada was still standing, slouching over himself while taking deep heaving breaths, covering his mouth while dryly coughing. He then aggressively flicked his head up, standing straight once again, glaring at the young shinobi. "Damn you, you lousy ninja, do you have any idea who you're dealing with!? Huh!?" he spat.

Shikamaru simply stared at his opponent, making Szayel feel as if he were silently mocking him before feeling the quincies presence behind him. He turned to see Uryu holding another Seele Schneider, ready to plunge it into the concrete underneath them.

"So it seems you don't like straight on confrontation, you're more of a long range attacker. Well then luckily for us, it made it easy to set this up for you without Shikamaru getting caught up with you." The quincy informed him.

"And so what if I do? Anything you've set up, I'm sure will be ineffective against me" Szayel barked at Uryu.

"Then there's only one way to find out." With that, Uryu placed the fifth Seele Schneider into the ground that encircled Szayel and used the Sprenger to activate it. Bright blue light shot up from each of the five weapons, connecting together and forming the shape of a pentagon. Shikamaru covered his eyes with his forearm while squinting, still struggling to see what was happening. The light headed straight towards the trapped Espada who was watching with wide eyes until all the shades of blue met, resulting in a large explosion of bright rays, engulfing Szayel with it.

Once the light had subsided, Uryu had walked over to Shikamaru, sparing him a smile. "I couldn't have done that without you, you know."

"Heh, well I wasn't expecting another explosion but at least it didn't cramp my style" the young ninja returned the raven haired boys smile subtly until he looked past Uryu, his smile fading to a scowl.

The Quincy had turned back to where the Espada stood, seeing his lanky form through the grime still standing, breathing heavily before looking up at the two young boys. "What?!" Uryu exclaimed in disbelief.

"Master Szayelaporro!" Verona and Lumina cried in sync, bouncing towards their defeated master.

"Damn you…" the Espada bitterly whispered through his burnt lips "Damn, damn, damn, damn you."

"It's enough that you survived the attack but how're you still standing?" Uryu asked, staying calm and collected.

"Of course… I stayed one step ahead of you Quincy. I analysed and researched everything about your kind, even though I've never seen your attack before, because it's your particular peoples reishi, I can reduce the damage… reduce the damage. I can… reduce the damage you ignorant punks!" he howled before grabbing Lumina by the head and pinning it to the ground, radiating his spiritual energy light before turning the round being into a glowing purple ball and aggressively biting into it.

This did not only shock Shikamaru and Uryu but also the Espadas subordinate, Verona, who continued to watch their master devouring one of their own in horror before seeing that his wounds and burns were beginning to completely heal and replenish his wounded skin.

"Lumina! Lumina!" Verona had called for it's companion before the 8th Espada had turned to it.

"Be quiet! Don't make a big fuss, I can create a new Lumina later" he exclaimed before turning back to see the young boys shocked expression, simply just watching him, waiting to see what he would do next.

"What's with the look? I don't mean to brag but my fraccion is made up of many different kinds of arrancars, personally modified by me. Essentially, they're my medicine for moments like these." the Espada stated nonchalantly.

"You're a monster..." Uryu voiced.

"I prefer the term brilliant. Maybe you are worth taking me on directly." Szayel began to laugh manically once again before taking his zanpakuto and placed the tip of the blade between his lips "sip Fornicarás" he uttered before swallowing his sword as a pink light began to shine from his mouth, filling the corridor. The Espada then immediately inflated before releasing large amounts of spiritual energy in the form of mist.

"What's happening?" Shikamaru whispered to Uryu who mimicked his bothered expression.

"So this is his released form..." Uryu thought out loud to himself, forgetting Shikamaru had no idea what he was talking about.

"Released form? Don't tell me he gets even stronger?"

"I guess you could say that…"

The mist had dissipated and Szayels appearance had completely changed. Shikamaru could've sworn he had gotten even taller, his right eye and fingertips were tinted with a dark purple and he had four, long strands coming from his back with several red drops hanging off of them. The young ninja couldn't miss the quick flash of tentacles underneath the Espadas long clothing.

"Uryu, now you have to trust me" the brown haired boy formed a hand sign "shadow clone jutsu" he uttered as two more people appeared, one being a clone of himself and one being Uryu. "Quickly" he motioned towards the entrance Ichigo and the others went through.

"What!?" the young quincy stared into his own face before the young ninja abruptly grabbed his wrist and started trailing him behind as he ran into the exit although the further they went, the darker the hallway became.

"Oh no you don't" Szayel excitedly exclaimed before appearing in the doorway, avoiding the obvious illusion while effectively dodging the dud shurikens shikamarus clone was throwing at him. "If you were only paying attention to what I was saying when we first met, you would know that I control these corridors and after that troublesome shinigami left, I sealed off that entrance so that he couldn't interrupt our fun" the Espada chuckled before lunging back as he saw a shadow race towards him from the darkness of the exit._ "_So this is how you do it huh?" he grinned as Shikamaru and Uryu appeared where he had been standing just moments ago.

"Yeah, maybe it is" the young shinobi replied as he ran towards the pink haired espada with his hands laced around each other, practicing another jutsu as a thick black line jotted out from the corridor and wrapped itself around each of the Espadas ankles.

"Oh?" The Espada thought, grinning to himself before looking up to see another kunai with a tag hanging off the handle. "_So the shadows have more than one use hm?"_ he mused. "That explosive trick again? Please, try surprise me if you're going to attack."

Szayel effectively flung the kunai away using the side of one of the long strands coming from his back before seeing the explosion occur a few feet away from him. The shadows restricting his ankles, retreated. He grinned, "My turn" he barked excitedly before using another wing strand to subdue the young ninja and envelop him inside one of the red drops on his wing and spitting him back out.

"Shikamaru!?" Uryu cried, running closer to the moth-like Espada. "What have you done!?"

"Don't worry, he's not harmed… yet" the Espada assured darkly before the young ninja fell to the ground.

"Shikamaru!" Uryu called again, kneeling before the brown haired boy and shaking his shoulder before the young ninja became responsive and looking up at the quincy.

"I'm alright" the young ninja assured, standing up. "What have you done to me?" he asked the Espada huskily.

"I just made a new toy to play with" the Espada grinned, holding up a small plush looking doll of Shikamaru.

The young shinobi had simply narrowed his eyes, not planning his next move until he knew what his enemy was planning and what he was going to use that thing for. "What the hell" he heard his confused comrade murmur next to him.

"You see, if I open it like this" the pink haired Espada continued enthusiastically as the two young boys watched in shock as he pulled the doll open to reveal coloured objects of all shapes and sizes "and if I take out this bean that would be your stomach and I apply the needed pressure to break it, then your stomach is as good as broken" he proceeded to break the bean shaped stomach bead and Shikamaru curled over himself and fell on his knees again, clutching his stomach while letting out a small groan of pain. The sadistic Espada let out a dark chuckle, letting the broken pieces fall to the ground.

"Stop it!" Uryu called as his pentacle shaped cross fell from his wrist and formed to create his bow, taking his aim at Szayel.

The Espada barely regarded the Quincy and sighed. "Your listening skills are truly terrible, haven't I told you your powerless against me Quincy? In fact I should've done this earlier" he decided with a grin, holding out one palm.

The Quincy ignored the Espadas words and released an arrow that was now disappearing as it headed towards the moth-like form until there was nothing left. "What!?" Uryu thought stunned before his bow had disappeared.

"It was easy enough to seal your Reiatsu after that Seele Schneider ran me through" the pink haired Espada informed him.

"You bastard" Uryu uttered in disdain as he looked back down to find Shikamaru standing back up.

"I want to play with you more, shinobi but I've lost interest in your friend. Don't worry Quincy, you won't go to waste, you're going to be a very valuable test subject" the Espada then threw a wing towards Uryu before he could deflect it, the red drop had devoured the quincy before repeating the same process that Shikamaru had undergone before being spat out.

"Uryu… are you okay?" Shikamaru muttered to the raven haired boy.

"I'm fine" the young quincy uttered, his voice strained from the disorientation he had felt.

"Enough talk" the pink haired Espada exclaimed before opening the Uryu doll and grabbing several beads at once before crushing them in the palm of his hand. The young quincy curled over on the ground, imitating the young ninjas reaction. The Quicy let out a loud scream before clutching his chest. "Now that most of your main organs are damaged, one more and your heart might just fail."

Szayel started chuckling until he broke out into manic laughter as if he couldn't control himself. "You fools" he began "you really thought you even stood a chance?! I am one of the highest ranking Arrancars, I am the smartest Espada of them all and most importantly, I have reached perfection, I am perfection." He then took two long sticks out of the small Shikamaru doll and snapped them in half while amusingly watching the young boy groan in pain and fall to the floor. "You'll probably never walk again before you die, those were your calf muscles. But don't worry, it won't be long now." he grinned.

Shikamaru groaned in pain before struggling to look up at the moth-like form. "Heh, perfection? You're insane" he voiced before grinning.

"What?" Szayel widened his eyes, his face turning into a scowl. "How dare you… You should be honoured!" he yelled before taking the remaining piece of Uryu's doll being his heart and Shikamaru's spine bead before crushing them.

The young boys collapsed onto the floor before earning a laugh from Szayel. "Fools…" he repeated before walking over to the two bodies. "It's a shame it was over so quickly" the Espada frowned, savoring the moment as he stared at the defeated humans at his feet before they went up in smoke in front of him. "What?!"

"Are you ready Uryu?" Szayel heard from behind him.

"Do it, now!" Uryu ran out of the dark corridor they had previously been in, bow in hand.

"How—!" Szayel began before feeling himself being immobilised once again by a shadow behind him. "Ugh!"

"Didn't you tell us not to underestimate our opponent? That's quite hypocritical" Shikamaru said, now controlling his actions from a few feet behind him. "You were so focused on us, you forgot about the two clones I made earlier. They're just as good as the real deal."

"That vanity of yours will be the death of you Szayelaporro Granz" Uryu interjected "of course you weren't going to fall for something as simple as Shikamarus explosive tag again so while you were too busy focusing on deflecting the explosion, we were easily able to manoeuvre around you to replace our real selves with the pawns Shikamaru made. We had all that time to figure out a game plan."

"I gotta admit though, it's not like that wasn't difficult enough to make them not disappear with all the damage you were doing" Shikamaru muttered irritated.

The 8th Espada started to fume, his eyes narrowed and his nose had flared as his breathing intensified. "Quincy" he growled "But I sealed your spiritual energy, you shouldn't be able to wield any of your weapons."

"Thanks to Shikamaru's clone, there wasn't a trace of my spiritual energy in it for you to seal. It was simply an illusion, that wasn't my real spiritual energy."

"You fools! you think you're going to defeat me!? I've already start thinking of all the ways I'm going to kill you!" the Espada screamed, leaning forward, slowly bringing one leg forward to break the young ninjas jutsu.

"Uryu! Now!" Shikamaru yelled towards the quincy while two more shadows came from the young boy, two of which possessed his former sensei's chakra blades before he smoothly propelled his weaponry towards the Espada, slicing off his four wings from the bottom to the top on either side. The young ninja had changed his stance to stand with his legs apart and his arms out, while the Espada mimicked, his scowl never leaving his face.

"Right" the Quicky had propped up his bow and carefully balanced an arrow between his fingers, once he had perfected his aim, he shot his weapon straight through the 8th Espadas elbow as he cried out in pain.

This was followed by another arrow in his other elbow and another arrow in both knees, now he was truly immobilised, unable to move any of those four joints even if he were free to. He looked down to find the shadow gone, realising he has to move quickly, the Espada tried to take out the right elbows arrow, only to howl in pain. "You amateurs!" he yelled.

Shikamaru quickly ran to the Espada and pulled out a long scroll from his leg holster, dropping it on the ground underneath the moth-like form before making a few hand signs then placing his foot on a large symbol in the middle of the scroll. "Uryu, get out of here!" Shikamaru yelled.

"There's not even anywhere to go! What about you!?"

"Just run! _Go_!" Shikamaru called before a green light appeared from the long piece of paper and a puff of smoke, followed by an explosion, exposing a large flame of fire engulfing the Espada.

The pink haired Espada started to scream, trying to escape the fire but ineffectively being able to run due to the arrows keeping his essential joints from working properly _"What is this?"_ he thought _"My wings…. they aren't regenerating."_

Shikamaru stood at an arms length away from the fire. "Those blades I used to cut those things off with… I guess you could say my chakra coated your spiritual energy flow, blocking it from doing anything for a few hours. Heh, checkmate."

_"But that shouldn't have done anything"_ Szayel thought with little concentration because of the pain of the flames enveloping him _"chakra is merely— … **thicker in substance**. So he took that to his advantage and neutralised the spiritual particles on the tips of my wings using his chakra."_ The Espada was trying to step out of the fire, very frigidly he willed himself to hobble out until he fell forward screaming. "Damn you! I can't believe this, this can't happen" he called to the young ninja only a few feet away from his, leaning against the corridor wall before sliding down, exhausted.

Shikamaru smirked at the Espada who had now fallen face down on the ground in defeat. The young ninja didn't know whether or not he had won the whole fight yet but he knew he had definitely bought himself more time. _"Damn, I'm out of chakra, that finished me"_ he thought to himself as he still handled his chakra blades. _"I guess these are my lucky charms"_ he smiled and tightened his grip on them, thinking of Asuma sensei "_I don't know how this match would've turned out without them."_ he closed his eyes, accepting that these fires aren't all that easy to put out without chakra, a water scroll? Maybe, but he hasn't got the chakra right now.

"Shikamaru!?" Uryu called, seeing a smoggy looking figure sitting against a wall "Shikamaru is that you!?" he cried through the fire, running through the smoke while guarding his airways with his sleeve. "Shikamaru! Come on, what're you doing!?" he yelled at the young brown haired boy who was now almost passing out from the smoke intake. "Ugh, come on we've gotta get out of here." The young quincy picked up the ninja and put him on his back, running quickly from the scene behind them, the flames became hotter and roared higher the longer it went on. "Nothing could survive through that" Uryu thought, looking back one last time as he continued to run.

The fire swept through the corridor, Uryu could barely escape it unscathed. "_This isn't normal, what type of scroll was that just now?"_

"Uryu" Shikamaru uttered while on his back. "The corridor is too small, there's no where for the fire to escape, the pressure of it will make this place explode. I'm slowing you down, let me go and leave."

"_Dammit_" Uryu thought in frustration.

* * *

"So that suit really gives you that much flexibility!?" Dondachakka asked in awe.

"Yes, yes it does my friend. It lets you fight to the fullest extent of your ability! Definitely lets your whole body breathe while you're getting a work out." Guy replied as he flashed him a smile and gave the arrancar his enthusiastic thumbs up.

"Oooh, well you see, my bodysuit just gets too hot while I'm playing eternal tag with Nel, don'tcha know?"

"Ah yes, I used to be cursed with layers upon layers of—"

"Guy, please. We don't need to know that." Kakashi started with hooded eyes, bothered by how well his best friend and this arrancar got along. He was always a people person but an Arrancar person too? This was too much.

"Well, you'd know about it all too well, wouldn't you Kakashi?" Guy grinned.

Kakashi shot Chad a quick glance who had remained just as quiet as he had this entire time. He couldn't deny he had some suspicions about this so called high school student but he also couldn't just confront him about it when they're all supposed to be working together.

"Do you reckon you'll have them in my size?" Dondachakka continued with Guy.

"They can be—"

A huge noise appeared as though a bomb had just been set off and everybody froze while Dondachakka hid behind his new friend, Guy.

"What was that?" Guy wondered, his tone hardening.

"I don't know but it seems like someones in trouble." Kakashi responded as he began to break out into a run.

"Where are you going?!" Guy asked while he followed Kakashi "Do you think it happened this way?"

"I don't know but I can feel this direction getting increasingly hot as we get closer."

"He's right" Chad spoke "I can feel it too." the large built boy ran in sync with the white haired man, earning a quick glance his way. "It could be anyone, we have to make sure they're okay if they're one of us." He sped up, running ahead of Kakashi and Guy who were now giving each other a look of approval as they followed the quiet boy through the hallway.


	6. Strength

_Chapter six_

_Strength_

* * *

Kakashi, Chad, Guy and Dondachakka arrived at a large enclosure which had been shrouded by smoke. Carefully, they proceeded to walk through the burnt corridor, watching where each step landed. "What happened here?" Guy softly asked almost to himself.

"These were the flames of a fire scroll" Kakashi confirmed.

"Fire scroll?" Chad looked to Kakashi quizzically.

"It's a scroll tailored to set anything it touches on fire" Kakashi informed Chad.

"But" Guy stopped in his tracks "that can only be used in wide, spacious areas out in the open. The Hokage gave us permission to use them only if we had to. To use a scroll like that in a small place like this… that explosion means…" the black haired Shinobi trailed off, tightly shutting his eyes, trying to shake away thoughts of the worse possible scenario.

"Whoever used it would've had to have been desperate." Kakashi concluded "_Whoever used it knew what the consequence would be"_ he thought, turning his gaze down so his friend couldn't read his expression.

There was a moment of silence until Chad had sighted a glimmering light in the corner of his eye before running over to it, catching the Shinobi's attention. "Over here, the fire is still burning."

"What is it?" Dondachakka asked, trembling behind Guy, slightly leaning over to catch a good look at maimed pink hair and a burnt looking figure lying on the ground, still being eaten away by the flames. "T-That's Szayelaporro Granz, don'tcha know!?" the large Arrancar raised his voice in fear while turning his back to retreat before Kakashi spoke.

"The scroll was activated underneath him" Kakashi confirmed, squatting down beside the fallen Espada "This must've been who they were fighting."

"Szayelaporro?! They were fighting him!?" Dondachakka turned to the shinobi who was now standing, staring at the masked creature. "But he's an Espada, don'tcha know?!"

Guys eyes widened at the Arrancars words "An Espada… To fight one of them without repercussions was to be expected but this…"

"It looks like they won" Chad spoke in his monotone voice as he was still staring down at the Espada who was still yet to move a muscle. The large boy turned to face the ninjas who's spirits seemed to be dampened. _"I wonder who was with them"_ Chad wondered with concern.

"Let's keep moving" Kakashi decided as the others had followed him out of the smoke. The walk was quiet and the silence was heavy, the further they had walked, the more the smoke had started to disappear and their line of sight became clearer.

"Is it just cos we're far from the fire or does the air smell much fresher around here?" Guy asked, breaking the silence.

"You're right guy" Kakashi agreed "But the smoke shouldn't even be far from gone at this distance." The white haired ninja narrowed his eyes and started to pick up his pace, breaking into a run. "_Somethings off"_ he thought to himself.

"Kakashi?!" Guy questioned before running after his friend.

It wasn't long until they had reached a large hole made in the side of the never ending corridor, revealing an opening to another hallway, and in the wall of that one, another hole was made until they saw the hot sands of Las Noches and a sky as blue as their own. The small group, stood at the hole, wide eyed as they analysed the scene.

Kakashi glanced at Chad and Guy before proceeding to walk through the hole and into the next corridor before stepping out onto the sand. He turned to look at his two companions as they followed the white haired ninjas movements.

"C'mon guys, we don't have to go out here, why don't we just follow the corridor and meet the others, don'tcha know!? That was the plan!" Dondachakka exclaimed "We're more likely to run into someone out here!"

"Then let them come" Guy debated.

"He's right, at least out here, we're making more progress." Kakashi agreed.

"Exactly my thoughts" said a voice from behind them.

As the small group turned, they found Uryu putting away his bow and giving them a smile. "I'm glad you found us."

"Uryu!" Chad exclaimed with relief "Back there, was that you?"

The quincy avoided eye contact with his friend and the shinobi and looked towards the hole "the damage in the corridor you saw wasn't done by me."

"Was it…?" Kakashi started before trailing off when Uryu turned back to look straight into his dark orb, causing goosebumps to raise on his skin. Something was wrong.

"It was Shikamaru. When he asked me to trust him, I didn't think he'd gamble on his own life trying to take out Szayelaporro."

"Shikamaru! where is he!? Is he okay!?" Guy ran towards the young Quincy, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him before Uryu grabbed the older mans wrists so he could steady himself.

"I think he'll be fine" the raven haired boy said simply "he's just exhausted and out of chakra, he only suffered minor burns from the fire back there along with a dangerous intake of smoke, but he's recovering well under the circumstances."

Guy's head had fell forward, his shoulders had slouched and he let out a deep breath he had been holding in during the quincies explanation before snapping back up to look at him glassy eyed. "He's alive" Guy whimpered, unable to hold back his joy.

His hands lifted off of the young Quincies shoulders and were thrown into the air in triumphant fists "Yes!" he exclaimed "the power of youth, there's nothing like it! Even in this place!"

Kakashi watched his friend of many years, enthusiastically celebrating Shikamaru and the young Quincies victory. "_Always so positive, Guy"_ he thought while his mask hid a small smile.

Chad had then placed one hand on Uryu's shoulder and smiled at him subtly. The raven haired boy smiled back, not needing to talk to know what his friend of few words was trying to tell him. _"I'm glad you're okay too, Chad"_ Uryu thought.

"You're alive! You're okay!" Dondachakka ran past Chad and tried to wrap his large arms around the young Quincy before being kicked in the mask by the person he was trying to hug.

"There's no need to be that enthusiastic about it" Uryu replied irritated.

"Celebrating a victory without me?" All five heads turned to see Shikamaru coming out from behind a corner, using the wall as a support while he hobbled over to them.

"Shikamaru!" Guy cried as he ran towards the young ninja. "I'm proud of you" he cried, holding back tears.

"Shikamaru, it's nice to see you're okay. What happened back there?" Kakashi asked, walking over to the young boy.

The young ninja then went on to explain what had transpired in the corridor with Szayelaporro and how they had ran into Ichigo, Sakura and Yamato as well. "But what I don't understand is how we ended up out here…" Shikamaru concluded.

"I can explain that" Uryu interjected as he went on to explain what had happened.

* * *

_"Shikamaru!?" Uryu called to the young ninja on his back and got no reply. "His breathing, it's slowing down" he thought in panic. He set the young shinobi down on the opposite side of the corridor "You're crazy if you think I'm just the type of person to leave you here" he said to the unconscious boy as his pentacle shaped cross fell from his wrist and a large blue bow had formed._

_"This better work" the young quincy thought desperately before firing a blue arrow at the wall, throwing rock everywhere. The fire had roared towards the two young boys again and the wall had taken a lot of damage but not enough to break all the way to the other side. "I can't just stand here and keep firing arrows at the wall, we don't have time for that" Uryu scoffed to no one in particular._

_He looked at the young ninja, then down at his belt. One Seele Schneider left. He grabbed the handle and set it on the inside of his bow, gathering as much reishi from the atmosphere around him as he could as well as feeding the blade his own spiritual energy. After a few moments, he pulled back the Seele Schneider as far back as it could go before releasing it to go straight through the wall and the next, until it escaped outside of the endless corridors to Las Noches. Uryu knew the tactic would work but not that well._

_He went back to collect the young ninja before fleeing from the fire as it erupted, the force of the explosion sent Uryu tumbling outside with his companion. Moments later, he found himself lying in the sand outside, staring up at the blue sky. The young quincy heard dry coughs coming from beside him. He looked to his side to see Shikamaru wheezing and opening his eyes slightly, slowly raising his forearm to block the sun from getting in his eyes._

_"You know" Shikamaru began huskily "When I was younger, all I used to do was just watch the clouds in the sky, always changing and moving, I'd follow them to wherever the breeze would take them. And in my experience, this looks nothing like the sky back home. This looks nowhere close to real."_

_Uryu was pondering over the young ninjas words in his mind before he turned his head to gaze at the sky above him, comparing it to Karakura Town. His forehead formed small creases as his brows furrowed. After a small silence he turned his gaze back to the brown haired boy who was still cloud watching. "Heh, you're strange guy Shikamaru. But somehow I think you're right" the raven haired boy agreed as a ghost of a smile settled on his lips._

* * *

"And then when I recognised your voices in the distance, I decided to regain my sense of direction so I could find you."

A silence fell over the group, letting what they heard about their battle with the 8th Espada sink in. "Alright!" Guy was the first to speak "You guys deserve to rest, I'm very impressed." He flashed the two young boys his best 'nice guy pose' that he could muster.

"Ichigo and the others might pass through the same corridor we did if Szayelaporro was making us go in circles." Chad shared his thoughts.

"That's a good point, Chad" Kakashi regarded the large boy with hopes he was right before turning to the younger Shinobi. "You better rest for a bit Shikamaru, that smoke intake would've done a number on your lungs. I'm going to take a look around, I'll be back soon enough. Keep an eye out for anyone else who might come through here." The white haired shinobi turned to scout out the area and saw Guy had decided to tag along.

* * *

There was nothing in their line of vision except a few dead trees and concrete looking buildings, very out of place for a land like this.

"Looks like all those corridors lead to the same place after all" Guy broke the silence after observing the vast wasteland, focusing on the wall they had come out from and how it correlated with the largest establishment of the entire place. The heart of Las Noches, where they had assumed Aizen had been hiding.

"Guy…" Kakashi changed the topic "what do you think our mission here is?"

Guy looked at his old friend bewildered before turning his gaze towards the broad desert land in front of him, thinking about the question he was just asked. "Lady Tsunade wanted us to come here to collect intel from the inside and if we had the chance, destroy the threat" the black haired man replied with resolve.

"We collected a great deal of intel so far and we haven't even been here that long, it's a whole other world. But what we can say for sure is that according to Chad and Dondachakka, there are 10 Espadas, the strongest of the Arrancars. Then, there's Aizen. We don't even know what he's capable of but to rule over strong beings like that, he must be some guy."

"What are you getting at, Kakashi?"

"What I'm getting at… is that maybe we've already completed our mission here. Eliminating Aizen and all of the Espadas aren't in the cards for us right now. I'm not saying we aren't strong enough to, I'm just saying we need to be smart about this. We'd have a better chance in larger numbers."

To Kakashi's surprise, he turned to see his old friend looking down as though he were counting the grains of sand, seemingly disheartened. "We need to find the others then" he subtly agreed, looking back up, stopping in the sand as Kakashi did the same.

The white haired ninja gave his friend a nod and with that, the two shinobi had turned around and raced back to the other four people in silence. "Naruto, stay put. I hope we get to him before anything else does" Kakashi mused with hooded eyes.

"There were four people right? Including Dondachakka" Guy asked his friend.

"I thought maybe it was just me. Who is that?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he could see their four companions and another unfamiliar figure with it's back to the two ninjas. Their pace had picked up and the closer they got to their friends, the more they realised the figure wasn't one of their own. "We better hurry." The white haired ninja moved even quicker without a complaint from his old friend.

* * *

"So, I imagine this thing belongs to one of you" a dark haired man snarled as he looked towards the four people in front of him. He had thin slitted eyes resembling that of a snake and a long lanky body, wearing an eye patch that had matched his white and black attire. The lanky man let a devious smile spread across his long face, revealing a large set of teeth which had made him look all the more intimidating. As they observed him, they couldn't take their eyes off of the huge double crescent moon shaped weapon he had slung around his back, using one long, slender hand to heave it over his shoulder with ease. "Well!? I haven't got all day" he aggressively tossed the handle of a Seele Schneider at the four individuals who had taken a small step back.

_"No way"_ Uryu thought to himself narrowing his eyes at his weapons handle which was now being slowly buried beneath the sand by the wind _"I really didn't think my Seele Schneider would travel that far ahead after going through two walls."_

Shikamaru was watching the quincy who was obviously frustrated with himself before looking back at the lanky form in front of them. _"We didn't need anymore attention but the guy can't help if his sword was too powerful"_ the young ninja thought then gripping the bridge of his nose with index finger and thumb, shutting his eyes tightly. _"Guy sensi, Kakashi sensei, where are you? My chakra isn't completely replenished to take him on."_

"Cowards, it's not even worth fighting you, you're all weaklings. Tesla!" The lanky Espada called for his Fraccion who had obediently stepped forward, ready to do whatever his master asks of him. "Get rid of them, I doubt Lord Aizen would care, Ulquiorra found that Naruto brat already."

"Naruto!?" Shikamaru's eyes widened and he stepped forward aggressively before tripping over himself, breathing heavily "_dammit_" he thought _"my lungs still feel so frail, it's hard to breathe."_

Tesla stepped forward until the Espada held out his weapon to stop him "wait" he spoke "you there" he glared at Shikamaru for a moment "speak up, if you have something to say then spit it out" The lanky Espada hissed before walking closer to the group, hoping one of them would put up a decent fight.

"I was gonna say" Shikamaru straightened his spine and didn't break eye contact with the Espada "What happened to Naruto?" he growled at the lanky man, still breathing heavily, not wanting to show his enemy how weak he was at that moment.

"Was that all!?" the lanky Espada bit out "Che! Tesla, step down. I'll take care of this myself. Taking out a weakling is better than standing around being bored." The lanky Espada let a sadistic grin come over his face, narrowing his thin eyes at the young ninja "You shouldn't worry about that brat, we'll take good care of him" he hissed while lifting his Zanpakuto before he felt an odd nudge at his gut.

The lanky form averted his gaze downwards to find Chad who had just directly punched him in the stomach, causing the sand around them to plummet around them creating a small hurricane around the two forms. The Espadas snake-like gaze narrowed at the young boy in front of him, still holding his fist to his gut before lunging back to retreat.

"Chad!?" Uryu quietly called to the boy as his friend slightly turned his head towards him "what're you doing!? We should wait till Kakashi and Guy come back! It took Shikamaru and I to defeat the 8th Espada and look at us. Have you seen his tongue? He's the 5th Espada" the young Quincy lectured the large boy before he simply replied "Just let me protect you."

The raven haired boy was taken back and stared at his friend with concern. But he knew how it felt to feel as though you weren't strong enough to protect your friends, always being a liability. He thought of Ichigo and how he had always felt his powers were lesser in some ways, he didn't want to make his friend feel as though he was underestimating him, Chad really was strong in many ways. _"Ichigo, why would you carry a burden like this for everybody, always trying to sacrifice yourself_" Uryu was lost in thought, coming to understand why his orange haired rival would always step in and want to take care of every battle they faced. _"I'll help you in every way I can Chad_" the young quincy concluded, gathering his strength before his thoughts were interrupted by Shikamaru sliding down the broken wall.

He saw the young ninja smile slightly and shut his eyes, breathing heavily. "Chad, thank you" he uttered earnestly, almost in a whisper. The young ninja knew he won't be of much help right now, he was absolutely exhausted as well as trying to articulate his thoughts while his lungs were burning, they were as hot as the fire that Szayelaporro perished in, unwilling to take in the air that was so eagerly washing over him. It wasn't only his chakra that was the problem at this point.

_"He's strong"_ Chad confirmed to himself "_I needed to strike while he was unexpecting it but my attack had no impact…"_ he thought while his brows furrowed.

The Espada's smirk widened and his lips parted slightly, enough to expose the dark print engraved on his tongue, showing everybody exactly who he was and where he stood. "What was that?" he snarled through gritted teeth "Is that the best you could do? It's almost an insult that someone as weak as you had the nerve to attack Nnoitra Gilga, the 5th Espada." His eyes narrowed at Chad, he was almost disgusted by how someone with strength so weakly dared to challenge him. _"He must have a death wish"_ Nnoitra sneered to himself. "Come on then" he invited, holding his long arms out lazily "try it again."

Chad accepted as he lunged forward once again, gathering more power in his arm before thrusting it towards the same spot as last time, this time forcing the Espada to slouch the slightest bit but still not enough to phase him, the brown haired boy raised his fist again to give it another go before Tesla stepped in, blocking his attack with his Zanpakuto. Everything stood still for a moment before Chad stepped back, retreating once again.

"Tesla" the blonde haired Arrancar heard from behind him as he turned to find his masters large blade scraping the hairs on his neck, not daring to move a muscle he heard Nnoitra calmly ask "who told you to interfere?"

"I'm terribly sorry my Lord" Telsa trembled "But I couldn't hesitate. I saw the enemy put all of his strength into a final attempt to defeat you, I was afraid of the possibility of you being injured." With this, he felt the blade being plunged closer towards his neckline, it was a miracle his skin didn't break.

"You were wrong" Nnoitra hissed "Nothing was going to happen, no one in the universe is my equal, no one can break this body. I am the most powerful Espada ever created, I should be number one!" he snarled, breaking his tepid exterior as his voice started to raise at the last few words brashly. His fists shook with anger before withdrawing his weapon from the blondes neck.

"The strongest Espada? Well, this'll be a bag of fun then won't it, Kakashi?" Nnoitra shifted his gaze to the side before turning his head to see two men from that village Aizen was making a fuss over. He scornfully squinted his eyes at the two forms in behind him, before looking back at Tesla.

"Well it doesn't matter now anyway, does it? I'm not interesting in weaklings. He's all yours Tesla." The 5th Espada was frustrated with his subordinate, he hastily turned to face the two shinobi.

"_Finally_" Shikamaru thought to himself as he heard Guy's snarky remark. _"It's about time they arrived"_ Uryu mirrored Shikamaru's relieved expression.

"Where'd the big guy go?" Guy asked his old friend as he held one hand over his forehead, blocking out the sun in his eyes while looking side to side for Dondachakka and the other hand rested on his hip. His head had stopped and he found a large polka dotted back behind one of the chunks of wall that flew off during the quincies attack on the wall from before. "_Found him_" he thought to himself cheerfully, although didn't act on it any further. "Just preforming the usual headcount" he informed Kakashi, giving him the biggest grin.

Kakashi sweat dropped and just fixed an unimpressed look at his old friend "Now of all times, Guy?"

"Comrades come first!" he assured Kakashi.

The white haired ninja proceeded to rest his forehead in the palm of his hand "But he's an Arrancar" he uttered "he's technically not one of us."

"Huh!?" Dondachakka poked his head out from behind the broken wall "What do you mean, I'm not part of the team!?" he frantically asked, glassy eyed.

"Enough!" Nnoitra seethed before slinging his Zanpakuto towards the two ninjas who had effectively dodged it by leaping away in different directions. "You're all weaklings! This is almost embarrassing" he snarled enraged, his face contorting into a wicked scowl as he glowered at the two men in disgust.

The two ninjas took on a battle stance as they faced their opponent, obviously seething even more with each second that passed. He was fierce and he wasn't going to muck around, his eyes were wide with inexpressible fury and it was all being directed at the two men in front of him. This made Kakashi and Guy uncomfortable, the black haired Shinobi furrowed his brows, getting serious.

"Kakashi" Guy started "take Shikamaru and Uryu and go on without us, we can't risk any casualties. Chad?! Is this okay with you?" he questioned the young boy still gleaming at the Espada.

Chad remained where he had been before now staring at his new opponent with his usual poker face "Sounds good to me" he responded.

With that, Guy averted his gaze from the Espada for no more than a few seconds just to catch a glimpse of his best friend, his features softening for a moment as he genuinely smiled at the white haired man next to him.

"But Guy!?" Kakashi called, his dark orb widened at his friend, he briefly felt a wave of melancholy wash over his being, sending a small but powerful shiver up his spine.

"Just this once Kakashi, trust me" his friend responded with a genuine grin.

_"Guy, you…"_ the white haired man thought to himself as his brows furrowed and his eyes had narrowed considerably. Despite how much concern he had felt for his friend, he also felt just as much trust and faith in him. "Don't keep us waiting too long" was all he could muster before shooting his friend one last look of appreciation and turning, preparing to make a break for Shikamaru when the large crescent moon shaped weapon hinged itself in mid air before the white haired ninja, blocking his path. Guy had appeared in an instant, effectively kicking the weapon back to Nnoitra who had glared at the black haired man. "I'm your opponent" Guy confirmed to the Espada who hardened his stare.

Nnoitra's eyes narrowed as he frowned "there's no point in killing two weaklings."

Kakashi disappeared in no more than a second and appeared next to Shikamaru to start helping him up. _"Thank you, Guy."_

"We're leaving" Kakashi turned to Uryu as he supported the young ninja with his right side.

"What!?" Uryu spat "But we're all here now, we can he—"

"And what would you do?" Kakashi interrupted, not wanting to spare any more time.

"I'm still fit to f—"

"Look at yourself Uryu" Shikamaru turned his head to look at the young Quincy, coughing as he was still struggling to articulate full sentences. "Don't act like that fire didn't effect you, your breathing is almost as uneven as mine." Shikamaru pushed himself off of the older man and strode over to Uryu, grabbing his right hand and holding it up to the quincy's face. "Even your weapons have taken their toll on you" the raven haired boy glared at the young shinobi through the spaces of his fingers for a moment before his hand came into focus, his fingertips were stained with his own blood which had trailed down his arm, his fingers had been callused and the skin was torn in many places.

The young Quincy shut his eyes and snatched his hand back from the young ninjas grip, for the first time damning Shikamaru's brilliant observation skills. "So what!?" he retorted "we just found them again and you expect me to leave my friend?!" he pointed to Nnoitra who was too occupied with staring down Guy to notice the Quincies accusations "He's the 5th Espada Shikamaru, like the 8th wasn't bad enough!"

The raven haired boys words had stung the young ninja who could completely relate to how he had felt. But where would he be if he couldn't put his faith in them to win?

Before Uryu could cause a scene and grab their enemies attention, Chad grabbed the raven haired boys wrist and set it down "Uryu" the young quincy turned his head to look at his friend, wide eyed. "Go" Chad simply said.

"Chad seems very capable and as for Guy… I don't think he even believes losing is an option" Kakashi contributed as he steadied Shikamaru and gave him support. "They'll catch up, trust your comrades."

The young Quincies gaze never moved from Chad, instead he put his head down in defeat and nodded. "Then… we better move now before things get rough" he submitted, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his index finger.

Kakashi nodded and started running along the wall the two young boys had broke out of, following it until they found an opening to sneak inside the large building Kakashi and Guy had saw earlier, hoping it would lead them to everyone else. Uryu slowly ran after them.

* * *

_"Che, this is childs play"_ Nnoitra spat to himself, truly frustrated with how these humans underestimated him. He stared at the ninja in front of him, with one of the backs of his hands held out, facing him, ready for anything. _"What a joke"_ the Espada was riling himself up even more at just the thought of it until there was no more time for thinking when he realised the shiny black haired man was running towards him with immense speed. "_Pathetic_."

Guy grunted as he lifted his leg and aimed for kicking the lanky Espada in the side of the head but his attack was blocked when his leg met with a large weapon which was suspended between them by Nnoitras hand. In nothing short of a second, guy had pushed his right fist out, aiming for the Espadas face once more but the Espada had skilfully tilted his head to the side and back before Guy's other fist could scrape him.

Faster than Nnoitras eyes could follow, Guy had slung one edge of his nunchuks toward him, steadily but quickly repeating this action as the Espada was keeping up with his movements. "_When did he take those things out?"_ The lanky form thought.

He effectively dodged each blow until he raised his Zanpakuto and attempted to strike the ninja as he left many openings, or so he had thought before his attack was blocked by the chain that held the two nunchuks together. The large blade and the chains had rattled in sync with equal force on both ends. The Espada glared at the older shinobi who was keeping himself very well collected.

The ninja had leapt back, placing himself just where he was before in a flash, still in his defensive stance, nunchuks spinning without barely any movement coming from the shinobi's wrist. "I thought you said you were the strongest Espada?" Guy mocked.

Nnoitras eyes widened and his pupils seemed to have dilated with anger "I am the strongest Espada! If you were stronger, you would've seen that by now if I hadn't killed you already"

"Then did my eyes deceive me when I caught that 5 on your tongue?"

Nnoitra felt anger making his blood boil hotter and hotter until he found himself lunging towards the black haired ninja, letting out a loud battle cry as he forcefully swung his zanpakuto at Guy, who had only just held his nunchuks up in time, he could see the sharp blade of the Espadas sword dangerously edging closer and closer towards his face, his arms summoning as much strength as they could gather at that moment just to hold it off.

The Espada was leaning forward, pushing his body weight onto the shinobi, watching his opponent struggle with pleasure. "What would you know!? You better hold your tongue or I'll cut it off!" he threatened as Guy made one final leap back, causing the rounded edge to slip up from the chain and cut his vest, making a large gash down his attire.

The Espada was too pleased with himself to notice Guy immediately speeding towards him, appearing in front on Nnoitra in a split second, throwing his fist right into the Espadas jaw, focusing all his strength into this one punch. The Espada fumbled backwards until he couldn't maintain his balance, he landed heavily in the sand on one knee.

Nnoitra groggily stood up and his wide eyes had narrowed, within them a storm of emotions were brewing, pure hatred and fury was bubbling up as well as adrenaline and curiosity. He broke out a grin, revealing all of his teeth dangerously. "You're the strongest! You're the strongest of these weaklings and I'm going to be the one to kill you!" He exclaimed as he ran towards the black haired ninja, swinging his sword aggressively at every angle he could at his opponent who was dodging them every single swing, moving his body side to side, up and down until Guy had furrowed his brows, he had enough.

Nnoitra swung his sword down towards the ground but the older shinobi had stepped on the blade, hindering it's movements as he leapt upwards into the air before throwing himself downwards. With his leg rising and as he got closer he brought it down with full force only to see the Espada disappear.

Quickly changing his stance he landed on the ground with a strong impact, making the sand around him cloud everything, he couldn't see where his opponent had gone until he heard the air behind him being cut through. Guy turned just in time to dodge the blade that almost wiped his head off, only slicing his cheek.

Nnoitra used a sonido to evade the attack. The lanky Espada had never taken his eyes off of his enemy in the sky, not letting the smut in the air distract him from his prey. he swung his sword towards the Shinobi's back although the ninja disappeared through the dust. He slung his Zanpakuto back to himself where there was a thin layer of blood coating the surface. The Espadas lips curled upwards, revealing an even large smirk_ "It did make contact after all"_ he sniggered before his smirk vanished.

The atmosphere had started to clear and the sand had began to vanish around the two forms who were now facing each other. "So what if I am 5th?!" the Espada snapped amused as he proudly whipped his tongue out to reveal the black print on it before tucking it away inside his mouth and enclosing it behind his teeth, still smirking. "These numbers don't mean a damn thing!" He cried in anticipation, using a sonido to get behind Guy and strike him down.

The black haired shinobi turned to Nnoitra who was raising his weapon, Guy had made a quick leap forward, rolling and landing in the sand with one knee steadying himself on the ground, watching a few black hair strands in the air where he just stood, still making their way to the sand _"That was close. He's fast and he's strong and to make it worse, he's serious"_ the black haired ninja observed. _"But now that I know his fighting style is close range, maybe strength is the final touch I need."_ He folded his arms over his chest and held his hands out, palms facing forward. "Gate of opening: Release!"

* * *

Chad and Tesla stood far from the battle that was transpiring between Nnoitra and Guy. Instead, Tesla had constantly been flicking his gaze back and forth between Chad and his master, making sure he was alright despite how often the Espada berated the Arrancar. This was distracting for the blonde as he didn't even realise Chad was pulling his fist back before swinging it towards him, head on.

Just in time, the Arrancar swiftly dodged the punch, leaping back before unsheathing his zanpakuto with two hands in his defence, the large brown haired boy attacked once more, putting more strength into his punch than the last time only to have it blocked by his opponents sword, without thinking, he wrapped his other free hand around the head of the Zanpakuto, trapping the Arrancars hands in his grip and yanked it to the side, forcing Tesla to expose himself momentarily before the brown haired boy raised his other first "El Directo" Chad uttered before delivering one fierce punch to the Arrancars jaw.

Chad distanced himself from the Arrancar who stumbled back before regaining his posture, raising his sword in front of him "crush Verruga!" he called to his Zanpakuto before transforming into a large boar-like creature with large tusks protruding from his mask. The young brown haired boy stared up at the beast that had just appeared before him, his eyes narrowed at this. _"His speed shouldn't be nearly as fast with that access weight"_ he assured himself.

Chad was persistant. He lunged towards Tesla in his released form, pulling back his arm "Brazo derecha de gigante!" he called as a liquid encased his arm before solidifying into a large shield, revealing intricate patterns which made it look all the more intimidating. "Just like you, I will fight with my full strength" he concluded as he swung his arm forward, his fist meeting the Arrancars large fist, they collided with immense force that it had sent the sand plummeting upwards, swirling around them frantically before settling back down.

A noise resounded from the back of Tesla's throat, this unnerved Chad as it sounded too much like a victorious scoff, he tried to step back but was too slow when the large Arrancars fist grabbed the young boys wrist and pulled him forward aggressively, lifting him over his head and slamming the brown haired boy into the sand with so much force, the young boy let out a pained cough and felt a liquid gathering in the back of his throat, forcing its way up and it tasted something a little like… blood? Before he could gather his bearings, he felt the same hand strangle his leg and send him flying into a near by wall.

Chad fell on his knees on the ground, he felt like someone had just slammed a wrecking ball straight into his being without mercy. His bones tensed and cramped up within him, becoming stiff and frail. His insides didn't want to exert themselves any further and refused to move, the only thing that still persevered was his brain, after it stopped spinning. _"Get up"_ Chad willed himself _"get. Up."_ Just as he felt his legs starting to obey him, he felt a large fist slam into his back, the young boy let out a pained groan when his body met the ground.

"Chad!" the young boy heard a faraway cry, someone was calling his name. He opened his eyes, the only part of him that would move but wouldn't work as everything looked like a blur. It wasn't someone… it was many people. "Chad!" he heard again, his sight was becoming clearer and his hearing wasn't as muffled.

"Chad!" Ichigo emerged from the hole Uyru had made previously and ran towards their fallen comrade, kneeling beside him "Chad, are you okay!?" the orange haired shinigami asked alarmed. As Ichigo was tending to his friend, a dark shadow started creeping onto him and the brown haired boy, the shinigami turned around just in time to see Sakura and the two arrancars follow Yamato leap out of the hole and appear in front of them faster than their eyes could follow "Wood style!" the older ninja called out, holding up his palm. A large wood dome formed over the three boys just in time for the fist coming towards them to collide with it.

"The fight isn't over yet!" Yamato called to Ichigo "can he continue?"

"Are you joking!?" Ichigo called back, worried about his friend who was still collapsed in the sand.

"No" the brown haired boy uttered as he thrusted himself up with his arms, his legs slowly complying as he stood up again. "Ichigo, I'm fine. I'm just glad you're alright." Chad could see his friend part his lips to retort but cut him off before he could get a word out. "As long as there is strength in my body, I will fight. The others went on ahead, we're so close to Orihime." The orange haired boy's lips tightened and his brows furrowed in concern at his friend but he just simply nodded once.

"Sakura!" Yamato interrupted as all heads turned to him "I want you to stay here, I need to go to Guy" he ordered abruptly as he ran out of the dome and towards the other fight going on half way across the desert, his gaze never leaving the unfamiliar figure. Sakura nodded towards Yamato "Be careful Captain Yamato."

A loud noise erupted from behind them, looking from over the dome, Sakura, Ichigo and Chad could see the large Arrancar getting frustrated as his muscles had tensed, ready to destroy Yamato's protective dome and he did just that with one strike, the three forms had jumped from behind their defence and stood in the open.

"What the—!?" Sakura voiced before Tesla had pulled his arm back before releasing it towards the small pink haired girl. Sakura was getting impatient with all these Arrancars already, she let out a scream as she leapt into the air and kicked the fist away with her foot, her defence was successful but she had felt a painful shock vibrate through her leg, making it cramp and spasm as she fell clumsily to the ground. "Hng" she yelped before grabbing her ankle and immediately started trying to alleviate the pain using her medical training with Lady Tsunade. _"That was such a bad idea, I should've concentrated more of my chakra into that kick, he's so strong"_ she thought ruefully.

"Sakura?!" Ichigo called to the pink haired girl running towards her, throwing himself in front of her to keep her out of dangers way before he felt a breeze go straight past him and jump into the air, straight towards the Arrancar who was gathering his bearings. "Chad?!"

* * *

"Dondachakka!?" a voice said in the distance.

"P-Pecshe! Nel! I-I never thought I'd see you guys again, don'tcha know!?" the large Arrancar replied, hopping out of his hiding spot and swooping the two smaller Arrancars up in a bear hug.

"Nel is so glad we found you!" the teal haired Arrancar contributed as her two bodyguards had started to bawl until they heard the impact of a heavy weight falling to the ground. Immediately Dondachakka shielded them behind the corner he was hiding in and they all peeked their heads out curiously to watch was unfolding before them.

* * *

Tesla hit the ground, hard. Chad was towering over the Arrancars head, his right arm was leaking immense spiritual energy out of the back, visible for everybody to see. "I will fight with my full strength" the young boy thought to himself again with desperate determination.

The Arrancar tried to swipe the brown haired boy off of his forehead but was blocked by the large shield on Chad's right arm, before feeling a burning sensation shoot through his skull. _"W-what just happened"_ Tesla thought, feeling a hot stream of liquid rush diagonally down his temples. Everything was spinning.

Tesla turned his eyes up to see Chad, grounded very stubbornly on his forehead. He had gotten used to the right arm but the left? What happened? It seemed to have transformed in the same way his other arm had but the colour scheme was different. It was coated with white except for the few red lines, forming patterns from the top to bottom. The young boy had met the Arrancars gaze with his own. "This? It's name is Diablo."

Tesla's eyes had widened, he understood perfectly. "D-Diablo? Meaning the devil!?" He confirmed to himself _"I was ordered by Lord Nnoitra to get rid of this weakling. Who would I be to fail him? To lose to a weak human like this? But… There's nothing human about that"_ he narrowed his eyes at Chad's left arm.

In anger, the Arrancars large orbs had started to glow brighter and brighter, catching the brown haired boys eye with curiosity. "Whats that?" Chad began to himself before a bright light fired from Teslas eye and directly towards the boy. The force was so great but without hesitation, he swiftly held Diablo up, absorbing the cero and crushing it in the palm of his hand, easily.

Tesla had tried to swat Chad off of him but the brown haired boy had been quick on his feet and hopped off before the Arrancar ended up slapping himself. With an enraged howl, he stood back up only to be sent flying backwards by Chad's right arm. His back met with a concrete wall, he slid down the surface and opened his eyes, he found the young boy emitting circular blue plates of light from his finger tips before making a fist. "La muetre." With this, Chad had lunged towards the Arrancar and plunged his fist straight into his gut, forcing him to fall through the wall, unconscious.

After a few moments, Chad fell to the ground in exhaustion. The cero had done more damage than he thought it would as the aftershock that shot through his arm moments later was starting to burn fiercely. "Is someone calling my name?" He thought to himself, focusing on his hearing. He opened his eyes to see Ichigo and Sakura kneeling over him, his arms had reverted back to their natural state.

"Will he be alright!?" the orange haired boy asked the young girl.

"He'll be fine, he's just pushed himself but other than that he's alright" she replied with a small smile as she was still focusing on her medical ninjutsu.

Ichigo averted his gaze from the pink haired girls face to the green light resonating from her hand that was healing his friend. "Thank you."

* * *

"What's he doing now?" Nnoitra watched the shinobi curiously as his chakra started to grow and become visible, wildly coming out in large controlled amounts. The Espada could sense the ninjas strength growing and he let a smirk grace his features as his eyes narrowed towards the black haired man. "This could be more challenging than I thought."

The Espada lifted his Zanpakuto over his head "Santa Teresa, _Pray_."


	7. The Fox and the Hound

**A/N: Okay, this chapter took me ages to write but because I've been so sick lately I've had so much time to write it! :D I think so far it's one of my favorites hehe I hope you enjoy! :) **

* * *

Chapter seven

_The Fox and the Hound_

Ulquiorra was dangerously close to the jinchuriki who had began to lunge towards him with the assistance of a clone who was gathering a ball of chakra in the others hand. Instantly the Espada gracefully leapt back, his hands remained balled deep into his pockets. He narrowed his eyes towards the blue light in the boys hands before using a sonido to appear in front of Naruto, grabbing his wrist and flinging it to the side, causing his rasengan to smash against the side of the corridor causing it to break, revealing the hallway next to it.

"Get down!" Renji called to Rukia as he grabbed Hinata before a large chunk of the wall swung towards her.

"Naruto!" Hinata called, stretching her arm over Renji's shoulder trying to reach the blonde.

Naruto's clone dispersed into smoke and the real one was left with his wrist locked in Ulquiorra's grasp which was as tight as a vice, causing Naruto to let out a quick groan. The Espada casually lifted his other hand, stopping it right next to the blondes head at eye level.

"This is what happens if you defy me any longer" the Espada threatened like he's done this before.

Before Naruto could register his words, he saw a green glow in the corner of his eye coming from the Espadas finger. He turned his head to see it glowing brighter and bigger, the blonde couldn't help but compare it to his rasengan. _"He's deliberately aiming his attack behind me"_ Naruto wondered why until he turned his gaze behind him where Rukia, Renji and Hinata had taken refuge behind parts of the broken wall. His eyes widened while he struggled to break free from Ulquiorra's grip, trying to get to his friends "Run!" he cried desperately.

"It's futile" the green eyed Espada then fired his cero.

Naruto watched wide eyed as the green light blew all the bits of concrete to smithereens, turning it into dust. It caused both sides of the corridor to collapse, making the hallway significantly wider. "H-Hinata!? Shinigami!?" the blonde called, the only noise was the sound of rubble falling from the ceiling and bits of the walls collapsing. Naruto had stopped struggling and stared blankly where the three figures once were.

_"Has he given up already?"_ Ulquiorra questioned himself, almost let down that someone Lord Aizen wanted was this pathetic.

The green eyed Espada looked down to find Naruto turning back to face him. His eyes slightly narrowed when he found himself staring into savage red orbs, the complete opposite of the shattered and concerned blue globes he saw just moments ago.

Ulquiorra felt the blondes wrist being ripped from his grip and thrown against his chest, his movements were quicker than before. The Espada found himself being hurled backwards, breaking the floor under his feet as he tried to come to a stop while the air was getting hazy from all the grime. His eyes widened slightly when he had finally grounded himself and saw the young boy's red chakra starting to solidify around himself. _"Is this the power Lord Aizen wants to possess? It's completely different from the boys own chakra. It seems as though I've triggered something"_ the Espada wondered.

* * *

Rukia was kneeling on the ground, brushing the remaining dust off of her shoulders. She looked up to see Renji who had released his bankai. "That was quick thinking of you Renji. Getting Zabimaru to take the blow for us" the small shinigami praised as she stood back up only to catch a glimpse of the large skeletal-like form behind them in tact. _"Zabimaru came back together really… quickly"_ she observed staring at her friends Bankai. _"Because of Zabimaru's size, it usually takes more time and noise to reconnect. Has he found out a way to improve that?"_ she thought curiously.

Renji hadn't taken his eyes off of the girl who stood in front of them who stared intently at the large parts off concrete that separated them from Naruto and Ulquiorra. "That's because Zabimaru never blocked the attack" the red haired shinigami spoke, still watching the ninja "she did."

Rukia followed Renji's gaze towards Hinata with wide eyes. _"But she's just a young girl, that was an Espada's cero. With that much force, how did she stop it?"_

As if reading the shinigami's mind, Hinata spoke "I used my eight trigrams palm revolving heaven. I guess by using the proper jargon to explain this to you it'll be easier for you to understand. By spinning, I could create a rotating wall of chakra to defend us against the attack. I'm sorry it didn't completely work but I thought trying it would be better than not trying at all…" She turned to look at the shinigami's like she were examining their condition.

_"What does she mean by didn't completely…"_ Rukia was confused before looking down at her arms to see small burns and bruises from the cero. She turned to look at Renji who had also suffered from bruises, small cuts and burns. Although judging from her friends hard expression, she figured that he already knew he had taken some damage.

"Don't worry about it, will ya?" Renji's words made Hinata's head perk upwards to look into his brown orbs "I think if I used Zabimaru here, we wouldn't have been able to get away with just a few scratches. So it could've been way worse. At least we're not dead, right?"

"Yeah… he's right." Rukia began "Thank you, Hinata" her eyes softened as she gave the dark haired girl a smile.

Hinata had quickly turned to face the wall of rock again, nervously intertwining her fingers above her chest as she fidgeted with them. She felt her cheeks become faintly warm and she shyly smiled to herself. An odd feeling swelled up inside of her, for so long she had only wanted to protect people. Whether they are people she loves, cares for or just innocent strangers in need of help. For the first time she felt like her will to protect was enough. That had finally been acknowledged. "T-Thank you… I—"

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, a menacing energy seeped through the rock which disrupted her train of thought. It slowly made its way over to the two shinigami. She could hear Rukia sharply inhale as it came over her.

"What… is this?!" Renji spat as his features had all of a sudden formed a scowl at the ominous presence suffocating them.

"This isn't spiritual energy." Rukia remarked "this is only the residue of something foul, it's making the air sting."

Hinata's arms fell to her sides as her eyes slowly started to widen as the realisation hit her. Small veins had started to form over her cheeks and up towards her temples. "Naruto" she spoke in a voice so small, the shinigami didn't hear her. She furrowed her brows _"I want… I need to protect him"_ she confirmed to herself with absolute resolve.

Rukia had silently been trying to work out what could possibly be exuding something so strong that it almost gave her goosebumps. There were only old folktales of beasts that had so much strength, it made the Gods cringe. But they were lost long ago. After a few moments her head snapped up to look at Hinata who seemed to have figured it out. "Hinata…" the small shinigami began slowly as her eyes started to widen and her brows furrowed in concern "Is this what Aizen wants? Is this the power of that boy? Naruto?"

Renji had all of a sudden snapped out of trying to draw his own conclusion and looked back and fourth between the two women. "Huh?"

Hinata turned to look at Rukia firmly. "This chakra isn't the type of person Naruto is. Please, we need to help him!" she cried, for the first time showing strong emotion Rukia was taken back.

"Hinata…" the small shinigami sympathetically frowned at the young shinobi. "What is he?"

"Wha? Who? What's going on!?" Renji interrupted, still looking back and fourth between the two, pouting in frustrating.

Ignoring the red haired shinigami, Rukia could see the kunoichi put her head down, reluctant to give her an explanation. _"She trusted us enough to tell us how her technique worked but this is so much more than that. Can I really be sure we can trust them? This spiritual energy… it's too much."_

"I won't ask you to risk your lives for him" Hinata began, still staring at the cracked ground beneath her "but I need to go to him." With that, she turned back to the rock in her gentle fist stance, ready to try and break through the rock.

"If you destroy the barrier then I guess we'll have to go with you anyway seeing as though that was our way to Orihime" The small shinigami walked towards the rock and then turned her gaze to the young shinobi. "Can you do it?"

Hinata's eyes met with Rukia's and she let a gentle smile fall onto her lips. "Yes, I can."

At this point, Renji stood behind the two girls, flailing his arms "can somebody please tell me what's going on!? Is this a girls thing?! Hello?! Don't ignore me!"

* * *

Naruto's eyes were darting everywhere, observing all of his surroundings as though he barely took an interest in Ulquiorra anymore. The Espada watched the young boy as the chakra started to grow thicker, he narrowed his eyes _"How much of that toxic chakra can he withstand? I must subdue him immediately."_

Ulquiorra used a sonido to get behind the blonde but found there was nothing in front of him but instead, behind him. Quickly he leapt forward and evaded Naruto's punch that landed on the ground, it caused a vibration throughout the whole concrete floor. The Espada looked down and his green orbs followed the small cracks that raced up the walls from the impact. He narrowed his eyes and quickly fired a cero directly in the ceiling above Naruto, causing it to collapse but the blonde thrusted his arm through the concrete, breaking it in half to reveal Ulquiorra on the other side. Quickly, the Espada grabbed Naruto's face and fired a weak cero through his hand, taking care not to kill him.

The young boy went flying into the wall, head first. He broke through it and fell out the other side which was nothing but another empty corridor. This bought Ulquiorra some time, he swiftly used another sonido to get in front of the blonde and grab him by his neck, lifting him on his feet and securely pinning him to the wall.

There was steam rising off of Naruto's face from his cero, Ulquiorra watched while the young blondes injuries were being healed at an extremely fast rate, almost as fast as his own regenerative abilities. "_Impressive_" he admitted to himself. Naruto reached up despite all the damage that was inflicted on him and clawed at the Espada's chest which didn't seem to phase him much._ "This behaviour is so animalistic. His fighting style is completely primitive" _Ulquiorras eyes narrowed dangerously_ "what are you, Naruto Uzumaki?"_

The young blonde let out a snarl before he used his hand that was clawing at the Espadas chest to uppercut Ulquiorra, making him release Naruto and stumble backwards although he quickly regained his balance. Naruto lunged towards the Espada, trying to land punches on him in every direction but the pale figure would block and dodge every one of them very skilfully though it did feel like he had to concentrate a little more than usual.

It wasn't until a very thick tail of chakra emerged from the back of the young boy that the Espada got distracted and Naruto let out a growl, forming a large shockwave of chakra, almost with as much force of a cero which went straight through Ulquiorra, sending him straight into the wall before falling on the ground. The Espada quickly regained his posture and stood up _"Surely Lord Aizen does not care what happens to this boy so long as he's not dead"_ he confirmed to himself while putting one hand in his pocket and holding the other up before firing his bala at Naruto.

The hardened spiritual pressure was shot straight at the young boys thigh to stop him from walking, but he acted like it was nothing. The Espada narrowed his eyes and used his bala a few more times, shooting the other thigh, the side of his stomach and his shoulder. He had missed Naruto's vital points on purpose but even so, he should have been on the ground by now. Ulquiorra watched as the wounds had started to heal one by one again very quickly. The young boy sped towards him and the Espada decided to close the distance as he lunged at the blonde, pulling his arm back and keeping his hand straight.

As soon as Naruto was close enough, Ulquiorra used a sonido quick enough to appear closer to the young boy to pierce him straight through his stomach with his hand. There was a brief moment of silence, Naruto had paused in his tracks. He slowly looked down to see the blood running down the Espadas arm. He looked back up to see those deep teal globes staring into his very core, searching the depths of him. Naruto's face had turned into a scowl and his brows furrowed in anger, once again the Espada had been distracted when he saw another tail-like figure emerge from the back of the cloak.

_"Another one?"_ Ulquiorra damned the young boy's power. _"I'm going to end this."_

* * *

"Lord Aizen" Yammy called, crossing his arms over his chest "Like hell I'd ever say a brat like him is worthy of a fight but Ulquiorra really seems to be having a hard time getting his ass back here without killing him."

"Che, if I could've gone earlier then this'd all be over by now" murmured Grimmjow, leaning his elbow on the table while he rest his head on his hand.

"What number are you again, Grimmjow?" Yammy chuckled, knowing this would infuriate the 6th Espada.

Harribel intimidatingly glared at the blue haired Espada, she always disliked how he disrespected their Lord so freely. After getting a bitter scoff from Grimmjow, she turned to find Starrk who was falling asleep in his chair suddenly jump up.

"W-what? Whose having a hard time?" He asked groggily.

"Everyone" Aizen finally spoke and the room had quietened down "I don't think anyone could've done this better than Ulquiorra" he smirked as he never took his eyes off of the screen. _"So this is only a fraction of the beasts power is it? How interesting."_

"What about the others?!" Grimmjow interrupted once again "We found the brat, can't we get rid of the rest? Earlier you said that would be alright" he said impatiently, knowing that the way he was talking would probably not come without consequence but he was starting to lose it.

"I told you, be patient Grimmjow. I want to detain him first and then you can do as you please" the former shinigami said nonchalantly, far too interested in what was happening on the screen to take action against his Espada's rebelling. _"I wonder how you'll stop him Ulquiorra. You'll have to tell me all your findings afterwards"_ he grimly humoured himself, pleased with how this was unraveling as he planned.

"Enh, fine" the blue haired Espada growled to himself quietly as everyone fell back into intently watching how much power the young blonde haired boy possessed.

* * *

Naruto howled, this time it sounded much more inhuman than the last. He grabbed Ulquiorra's wrist which was still in place through his stomach, the Espada quickly leapt back, escaping the young boys grasp. He held his hand up seeing that there were deep claw marks over it. Naruto lunged towards the Espada again, his movements were faster and his punches were more aggressive. A few of them had landed on Ulquiorra although he stood his ground, retorting even harder and faster with each blow. For a moment he looked down at the boys stomach to see the blood on his orange jacket but his skin formed over the wound. _"What are you?"_ the Espada wondered again.

Grabbing at any idea that came to his head, Ulquiorra leapt back and buried his hands in his pockets. He saw Naruto's breathing was laboured, the Espada was satisfied in knowing he was weakened. Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes, for the first time he felt slightly frustrated about what he was thinking. _"Humans are so foolish. If I'm correct, his transformation occurred after I attacked his comrades. They were burdens, to care for such trash is unbecoming in battle."_

* * *

On the other side of the rock barricade, Hinata had slowly been chipping away at the stone with her gentle fist while Rukia had been explaining the situation to Renji quietly, out of the young shinobi's hearing range. _"It's… not working"_ Hinata thought to herself _"this wall is a lot thicker than I initially thought."_

Rukia then walked up to the wall with Renji, observing the work the young shinobi did "it looks like you've broke through most of it" she addressed Hinata with a smile. "The wall doesn't seem to be made out of any Sekkiseki materials so maybe this'll work." The small shinigami put one foot back to prepare for the impact of her kido "Hado number 73: Souten soukatsui!"

A blue light emerged from the Shinigami's hands and crashed straight into the rock, seemingly not going anywhere at first but then eventually breaking it's way through to the other side. The light had vanished and there was only smoke left over. "So why didn't you just do that before?" Renji questioned, scratching the back of his head.

Rukia sharply turned to the red haired shinigami as her fists clenched beside her "Because I was too concentrated on explaining what was going on to you, idiot!" she spat.

Before they could bicker any further, Renji had cause sight of Hinata bolting through the stone and running into the battlefield, catching a glimpse of Naruto she stopped in her tracks, wide eyed. "Naruto…" she whispered.

"Hinata!" Rukia and Renji ran after the dark haired girl but came to a halt beside her when they caught sight of the young boy immersed in the nine tails cloak.

"You weren't kidding when you said Aizen wanted that dim wit's power…" Renji uttered to Rukia.

Naruto had also stopped and quickly glanced at the three forms standing aside, paying no attention to them he turned back to Ulquiorra who didn't regard much them either. "This is your comrades true form. Do you still want him back? Or shall I discard him?" The Espada said in his usual nonchalant tone.

"No! Naruto!" Hinata ran towards Naruto before Rukia tried to pull her back but the dark haired girl was just out of the small shinigami's range.

"Wait, Hinata! You don't know how what he'll do being consumed in that power!" She called after her.

"Dammit" Renji uttered as both of the shinigami's ran after her.

Hinata quickly approached Naruto before the blonde regarded her for just a moment. When she had got close enough, he had shoved her to the ground, the only thing in his sights was Ulquiorra.

"Naruto, please" the dark haired girl pleaded before Rukia grabbed her arm and helped her up.

The blonde had suddenly disappeared from his spot and had been advancing towards the Espada once again, Ulquiorra mimicked him and lunged at the boy, ducking down to dodge his punch and then coming up and grabbing Naruto's neck once again only this time, slamming him onto the ground with colossal force.

The jinchuriki and the Espada fell through the floor and onto the lower level of the establishment, causing more cracks in the ground where they landed. Ulquiorra had restrained the boy down, choking him with one hand as he used the other to reach up to his eye to take it out with ease. In this state, it didn't even shock Naruto that he just took out his own eye and crushed it in front of him as it turned into nothing but dust that fell around him. The young blonde slowly stopped struggling and lied still.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and looked down to see water surrounding him everywhere._ "Where am I?"_ he wondered as he looked at his familiar surroundings in a daze, his mind felt hazy. He started to walk through the water, everything was getting darker the further he went on. _"What is this place? I know I've been here before…"_ he questioned himself before he heard the sound of someone else walking through the water. Quickly, he turned to see a quick shadow run past him.

"Hey, wait!" Naruto yelled and ran after it until he came to a halt and saw a silhouette standing still in front of him. Slowly, he began to walk up to it as it became clearer and he saw the back of a black haired boy with a blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on it. "H-Hey! Sasuke! Sasuke, is that you?!" The young blonde started to run towards his childhood friend but he only started to run further away, into deeper water until he couldn't be seen anymore. "Wait, Sasuke!? Where are you!?"

_"Come back home with me"_ Naruto silently begged.

A growl had started to echo throughout the watered wasteland. Several growls were coming in all different directions, he didn't know which way to look. On instinct, he turned around to see large red bars weakly drop into the water but nothing was inside the cage, he was empty.

"Naruto" Echoed a sinister deep voice all around him.

"Kyubi… what's happening? Why am I here?!" Naruto asked with his brows furrowed in frustration. He clenched his fists tighter, causing small crescent moon imprints on his palms from his nails.

"You need me, Naruto" it echoed once again "your friends died because you weren't strong enough, because you refused me. This was the result of that."

The young blonde put his head down and tightly shut his eyes, his fists had started to shake beside him. "Shut up…" he uttered.

"Your other comrades are still alive, do you want to protect them? I can help you if you'll only let me in, Naruto."

The water around Naruto had slowly started rising higher and higher, soon he was up to his waist in water. The young blonde hadn't opened his eyes yet, not wanting to witness what was around him. "Hinata, Renji, Rukia… I wasn't strong enough." Pictures of Sasuke flooded into his mind once again "I can't bring them back and I can't bring him back, what can I do!?"

"I told you already" the Kyubi voiced once again, behind the red bars the fiery crimson red eyes had came into view "accept me."

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, still downcast as he slowly unclenched his fists. The water had continued to rise but the young blonde boy didn't try to run or swim, it had just started to slowly consume him. The red bars were slowly being lifted up with the water and soon a large orange coat was visible to him, the being those red eyes filled with hatred belonged to.

Suddenly, images of himself flashed in his mind. He was shrouded by the kyubi's chakra and he was fighting the Espada who killed his friends. But then there was a blue light "Is that Hinata!?" Naruto wondered, feeling so relieved, his eyes widened and his breathing hitched. These were memories. But they were not his, he was watching himself from another persons perspective and what he saw next, made his heart stop. Hinata seemed like she was pleading with him but he just pushed her down, not thinking twice about it. These memories vanished suddenly and he found himself staring into the crimson orbs once again, furious.

_"What is this?"_ The Kyubi thought irritated and he narrowed his crimson orbs as the water started to drain away. Footsteps were approaching the two forms, causing the large fox to avert his gaze to the source. Naruto followed the Kyubi's line of vision to see a tall silhouette approaching them, he could make out the black hair as he stepped forward "Sasuke!?" he called only to find that on the other side of the head with black locks was a familiar white helmet looking mask.

"W-What are…" Naruto was speechless, his eyes had widened and his jaw had dropped. How could this be happening? It was enough to have a tailed beast inside him but an Espada too? Ulquiorra emerged from the shadow and stood in front of the Kyubi, blocking its path from Naruto. The Espada stood right at the nose of the fox as its huge paws were on either side of him, its head rested in the water. The Kyubi's gaze narrowed onto the pale form, Ulquiorra had locked eyes with those savage red orbs he was battling.

The Kyubi's breathing became heavy with anger and shiny white teeth were exposed as the fox had started to growl fiercely at the Espada. Ulquiorra's gaze had never let up as the red chakra had started to bubble around the fox, the growling had gradually gotten louder and louder until the Espada could feel the hot breath of the creature almost trying to blow him away. It wasn't until the Kyubi let out a predatory roar that echoed across the entire place, it made the water ripple backwards and Naruto fell to the ground as he covered his ears with his hands. Ulquiorra lifted his forearm over his face and put one foot back to brace himself for the force of this one bellow so he wouldn't get pushed back. His hair wildly flew around his face.

The fox's howl came to an end and the chakra was slowly starting to rise up into the air and dissipate, its form was becoming bubbly, like it was becoming fragile and unravelling. With one fist in his pocket, Ulquiorra rested the other hand on the tip of the Kyubi's nose gingerly.

"_Disappear_" the Espada commanded aloud as a large gush of green light came from the Espadas hand and the kyubi's chakra blew up into the air, vanishing. The large red bars crashed down into the water in front of Ulquiorra who lowered his arm and placed his hand in his pocket. He turned to face the young blonde who was standing back up, staring at him wide eyed.

"Why… How are you here?" Naruto asked in a small voice. "Who are you anyway!? Are you the one who attacked my village?! The one who started this mess!?" He started to yell at the Espada in rage.

"I am Ulquiorra Cifer, the fourth Espada. And I am also the one who attacked your village. But if you come with me now, it will be spared."

"No way am I gonna go with you but I won't let you destroy my home either!" Naruto spat, standing tall "what do you want with me?!"

"You're nothing special, boy. Don't you want to be rid of this power? I gave you a look at yourself when you are consumed by it and you harmed your own comrade. What about that Sasuke boy? Don't you want to '_save_' him?"

Naruto's eyes widened_ "Sasuke…"_ he thought to himself. "You saw that?"

"Your incessant yelling after him was bothersome."

A silence fell over the two figures and Naruto looked intently at the fourth Espada. There was something so familiar about him, a look in his eyes was something he had seen before. Whenever he was close to his presence he felt cold and hollow like he'd been carved from the inside out.

"Whether you decide to willingly come with me or not is of no concern to me" The Espada interrupted snapped Naruto back into reality. "As of now, you're finished."

Everything went black and Naruto slowly opened his eyes to find Ulquiorra's grip around his neck suffocating him but his body wouldn't move or react to his attack, he had been completely drained. He averted his gaze upwards to see Ulquiorra leaning over him, once again staring right into his core with pools of teal. The young blonde could feel his skin burning which was the aftershock of the nine tails cloak. He felt the fourth Espada's grip slackened around his neck but it was too late for him to react, Naruto was losing consciousness and he was thrown back into the darkness from where he just came from but only this time, there were no voices, water or growling, just silence and darkness.

Ulquiorra stood up and towered over the young boys body. He couldn't help but note how serene he looked even after the ordeal his body had just gone through. _"This boy is the container of something with immense power. Can Lord Aizen… yes. Of course Lord Aizen can harness it."_ The Espada narrowed his eyes and felt the presence of his three comrades jump down from the upper level.

"Naruto" Hinata gasped, her hands were shaking and she was unable to move but stared wide eyed at the defeated boy lying on the ground.

Rukia proceeded to unsheath her Zanpakuto alongside Renji who still had his Bankai released. "You can't have him, I won't allow it! Dance! Sode no Shirayuki. Some no mai Tsuki shiro!" While holding her blade upside down, her blade started glowing an icy white. Hinata couldn't help but watch in awe, wide eyed. Suddenly Rukia sliced through the air and a large ice circle encased Ulquiorra, avoiding where Naruto was. the Espada leapt upwards breaking his feet from the ice beneath him although quickly, the icy casing rose up and froze Ulquiorra where he was.

"Quickly! We need to get Naruto and keep moving" Rukia stated, putting away her Zanpakuto.

"R-Right!" Hinata agreed as she ran towards Naruto, kneeling beside him and starting lifting him up by the shoulders.

"You girls go on ahead with him" Renji called, not moving from his spot "The ice is breaking, this won't hold him for long. I'll try buy you some time."

_"Renji…"_ Rukia thought, looking back to see him watching the ice cracking further. "Alright. Don't be reckless." She continued to help the dark haired girl get Naruto up by lifting his feet awkwardly. _"How are we gonna do this?"_ she thought slightly troubled at how large the boy was compared to the two girls. _"Bridal style…? No that's stupid."_

A green light came from one of the cracks in the ice until it exploded and hard bits of shards were falling from the ceiling like it was snowing. Everything seemed to happen slower and Rukia called out to Hinata who watched Renji's large Bankai race towards the Espada who was unfrozen and still in mid air, gracefully landing on his feet. She hadn't properly regarded the red haired shinigami's power before but the way it had moved so swiftly and snarled at its wielders will was truly a sight to behold. "Hihio Zabimaru!" The Shinigami called.

"Hinata!?" The dark haired girl heard the small shinigami calling her name "We need to go now!"

"Yes!" Hinata held Naruto's shoulders firmly as Rukia had a good grip on his ankles, they ran as quickly as possible only hovering the young boy above the ground.

Ulquiorra looked behind him to see them running away but wasn't phased. He turned to the large skeletal snake that was racing towards him, shrieking loudly. He placed one hand into his pocket while he fired a cero. This was counteracted by a large ball of spiritual energy fired from Zabimaru's mouth, causing a large explosion. Through the smog, the head of the skeletal snake emerged and smashed into Ulquiorra but the Espada unsheathed his Zanpakuto and held it horizontally so it rested upon the snakes jaws, blocking its attack. Striking the sword forward, Ulquiorra had sliced through Zabimaru's mouth making its jaw drop.

The red haired Shinigami let out a frustrated grunt and gritted his teeth, reconnecting the jaw to the snake. Ulquiorra held out his hand and fired several of his ball's towards the red haired shinigami although he had quickly disconnected each vertebrae of Zabimaru to block each of them before quickly connecting it back together. The large snake made another advancement towards the Espada, pushing him back this time and throwing him into the air and and crushing him into the ceiling. Zabimaru kept him pinned there for a moment before the Espada willing leapt into it's large jaw and fired a cero directly down its spine before using a sonido to avoid any backlash from his attack.

Renjis eyes widened "_Dammit_" he thought frustrated as each bone blew away until it reached the handle. Zabimaru had been in pieces and it would take awhile before it could be put back together.

In a flash, Ulquiorra had appeared in front of the Shinigami who was rendered vulnerable for a moment. Renji's eyes had widened, the Espada was too quick. The red head looked down to find the Espadas Zanpakuto through his stomach. Zabimaru was scattered over the ground lifeless before transforming into the original blade and Renji had dropped to his knees and Ulquiorra sheathed his sword.

"It's useless. Do you really believe you can save him? Give up hope now and you won't be so disappointed with the outcome" The Espada stated.

"It's not just for him" Renji choked as he propped himself up slowly, hunching over his stomach while covering his wound with his hand. "We're going to save Orihime from you too, even if I fall, don't think this is over." Tightening his grip on Zabimaru, he made one final lunge towards Ulquiorra, putting all of his strength and effort into this attack, holding his arm back with Zabimaru in his hand he was putting as much force into his swing.

The Espadas eyes narrowed and he casually lifted his hand and fired a small thin cero in the mans chest and Renji fell forward in a pool of blood. Ulquiorra placed his hand back into his pocket and turned his back on the shinigami, casually heading after the jinchuriki "If you manage to get up before you bleed to death, leave this place" he demanded before using a sonido to disappear.

"dammit" Renji slid his palm beside his shoulder, trying to heave himself up but his arm went limp "_I won't die in a place like this"_ he told himself as he fell into the darkness.

* * *

"Oh?" Aizen was almost amused with the fourth Espadas goose chase for a young human boy. _"But I did order Ulquiorra not to kill him. Otherwise this would've been ended awhile ago"_ he smirked to himself.

"If this keeps going the way it is then Ulquiorra will end up killing them all!" Grimmjow burst out, standing up as his chair slid back making Starrk cringe at the noise. It was as if someone were scraping their nails on a chalk board.

"You're right, Grimmjow" the former shinigami said simply to the sixth Espada's surprise. "Harribel, Aaroniero and Zommari, please go assist Ulquiorra. Make sure no one interrupts him and collect the boy before anyone else interferes. Thank you for your assistance my dear Espada. And Grimmjow, please sit back down. The earlier we detain the boy, the sooner we can depart to Karakura Town. Your time will come soon" he smirked.

"Yes, Lord Aizen" the three Espada said in sync as they used vanished to go to their assigned roles.

Yammy shot the blue haired figure an amused glance, his aura was practically dripping with animosity. Grimmjow casted his gaze downwards and glared at the table while he slowly sat down. He gritted his teeth too much, it was almost audible. _"That bastard"_ he spat to himself venomously _"he's enjoying this, he's doing this to me on purpose. I don't give a damn about Karakura Town, he knows how much I need to defeat Ichigo but he just wants me to sit back and watch someone else do it"_ The blue haired Espada grimaced and clenched his fists so hard, his nails drew blood from his palms.

* * *

Hinata struggled to keep the unconscious boy in comfort even though she knew he wouldn't be able to feel anything at this point. "Hinata, just a little further" Rukia called to the dark haired girl as they were approaching the end of the hallway with sunlight beaming inside the end of the hallway.

Just as they were going to make their way outside onto a large bridge connecting to another building, Ulquiorra appeared at the exit with his fists buried in his pockets. The two girls made a sudden halt and Hinata narrowed her eyes on her guard. "This is getting ridiculous" the Espada voiced taking light steps forward "hand him over to me."

Rukia's eyes widened in surprise "_Renji_…" she thought of her friend with a heavy heart and her stomach felt sick.

"I won't give you Naruto" Hinata retorted, gently setting the blonde haired boy down as the young shinigami did the same. "Can you continue without me, Rukia?" the dark haired girl asked.

"Yes Hinata. But it's you who will go with Naruto" the small shinigami replied. This shocked the dark haired girl as she swerved her head to face her companion. "I need to know what happened to Renji and you don't have the time to stick around chatting." Rukia exchanged glances with the shocked shinobi who nodded obediantly.

Immediately she hoisted Naruto's arm over her shoulder and supported the rest of his body over her back. "Please be careful Rukia, thank you."

The small shinigami smiled at the young ninja and turned back to the Espada, getting closer "Get going."

Rukia unsheathed her zanpakuto and ran towards Ulquiorra who had continued walking towards Naruto nonchalantly. The closer she had got, the Espada used a sonido to swiftly pass her and continue his advancements towards the jinchuriki "I have no business with you right now" the green eyed Espada voiced.

"Wait just a minute!" The small shinigami called, attempting to use a flash step to catch up to him but was stopped by the sudden appearance of a tall form wearing the usual white and black attire of the Arrancars in Las Noches. He was wearing a long mask with small holes on the either side and a frilly collar, there was no part of him revealed. "Step aside" she cried while she pointed her Zanpakuto as his chest.

"I can't do that, I have information you might find valuable" replied a high pitched voice before a white gloved hand shoved her sword aside and then pushed her backwards, sending her flying onto the bridge outside. She landed on her feet, sliding along the floor before coming to a stop.

_"What did he mean by information?"_ she wondered. _"But I don't have time for this."_ Sensing the presence coming quickly after her, she quickly turned around and positioned her blade defensively but he was too fast as she felt him kick her stomach and stumbling back even further into the building at the end of the bridge. Regaining her senses, she stopped her feet from sliding backwards and found herself in a dark room with the Espada as the doors shut. "What is this!? What are you doing?" She yelled at the masked man.

"Allow me to take off my mask and greet you properly" the man said, raising his hand to the bottom of his mask and lifting it off with ease. "My name is Aaroniero Arruruerie. Also known as Espada number nine."

Rukia's eyes adjusted to the darkness and she looked up at the Espada's face to reveal dark hair and those familiar green eyes. She felt her heart stop and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Kaien!?"

* * *

"_Rukia_!" Hinata cried to herself, hoping her comrade will be okay. But right now, she had to worry about Naruto as she set him down to lean his back against the wall. She turned towards the Espada who was still casually walking towards them, fists still balled deep within his pockets. She changed her position to her gentle fist stance and veins forms from her cheeks to her temples. "_No chakra points_" she confirmed to herself _"I don't know how effective my gentle fist will be on chakra points that don't exist…" _

Ulquiorra stopped a few feet away from the girl "Your resistance is in vain. That boy is as pretty much already ours."

Hinata didn't respond but she narrowed her eyes nervously until she thought back to when the Espada fired the cero at them.

_"Don't worry about it, will ya? I think if I used Zabimaru here, we wouldn't have been able to get away with just a few scratches. So it could've been way worse. At least we're not dead, right?"_

_"Yeah… he's right. Thank you, Hinata"_

Renji and Rukia's words echoed in her head and her eyes hardened at her opponent with clear resolve. _"I will protect Naruto even if I have to die trying."_

Ulquiorra narrowed his teal orbs at the young girl before him. He noted how meek and brittle she appeared but her eyes said differently, burning with the desire to protect that boy. From behind her, he could see Harribel appear out of nowhere. "Has Lord Aizen sent you?" The green eyed Espada asked unperturbed.

Hinata gasped and turned to the blonde haired woman _"I couldn't sense her presence!"_ Without thinking, the dark haired girl appeared in front of Naruto just in time to pull her arm back and hold her palm upright "Eight trigrams, sixty four palms!"

_"She's sacrificing herself for this boy against two Espada when she hasn't even got a chance of survival…"_ Harribel thought to herself almost crestfallen. Despite her loyalty to lord Aizen, her compassion could always find ways to make her feel things most Arrancars could not. Assured that the dark haired girls attack wouldn't do much harm, she didn't need to try too hard to dodge the attack by using a sonido to get behind the young girl before she could land a hit. To Harribels surprise, she realised she might've underestimated her when Hinata gracefully spun on her heel, and drove her palm into the blonde haired woman's sternum, alternating between both palms at an alarming speed to hit vital points of the Espadas body.

"Two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty two palms!" Hinata cried. Harribel was cornered into the wall, causing it to crack by the impact of the dark haired girls attack, each hit would sting and something would feel missing in the Espadas body. She didn't have the time to regain her composure between each of the young shinobi's blows.

Hinata could feel her movements slowing down, thirty two palms was her usual limit but this time she was determined to put everything she had into the attack. "I can't see any chakra points on her either but from memory, I should be hitting something. I hope my chakra can slow her down even just for a bit so I can take Naruto and make an escape" she knew that with the two of them, she was far out of her league. With one final push she screamed "sixty four palms!" The dark haired girl leapt back and stood in front of Naruto, watching as Harribel pushed herself off the wall and shakily walked to the centre of the corridor.

"It looks like I've underestimated you indeed" the blonde haired woman uttered. She tried to use a sonido but she found herself simply running. Shocked, she stood in place "_what was that attack?"_ she wondered as her eyes narrowed.

"It seems your spiritual pressure has significantly dropped" Ulquiorra observed as Harribel turned to the green eyed Espada. "It's nothing to be concerned about, being an Espada in a place filled with Reiatsu is convenient for you. It'll stabilise soon enough."

_"It worked"_ Hinata thought to herself relieved but quickly reminded herself of the sticky situation she was currently in._ "I think I have a few minutes at most before she regains her strength. If I could only take him down before then…"_ The dark haired girl took her gentle fist stance again and ran towards Ulquiorra but he knew better after watching her attack on Harribel. He used a sonido to quickly capture both her wrists in his one hand while the other remained in his pocket and slam her wrists above her head, pinning them to the wall. "No, Naruto!" she whispered, almost inaudible. She could almost feel her heart drop into her stomach and her knees started to shake "Naruto!" she called to the unconscious boy leaning peacefully against the corridor.

"Harribel, take the boy and bring him to Lord Aizen for further instruction" the green eyed Espada commanded.

The blonde haired woman simply nodded and lifted Naruto over her shoulder. "What are you going to do with her?" Harribel asked the other Espada who still restrained the young ninjas wrists.

"Does it matter to you?" he responded in his usual apathetic tone.

Feeling her spiritual energy being replenished within herself she turned around to leave. "No, do what you will" she confirmed after a few moments before using a slower than usual sonido to return to the former shinigami.

"Naruto!" Hinata desperately called after the blonde boy who disappeared with the older Espada.

"There's no use in yelling after him, little girl" the Espada assured her, not loosening his grip on her "why would you go this far for him when the chances of your success were slim to start off with? Soon, all of your comrades will be annihilated, this was determined since the beginning."

"You're wrong" Hinata choked out "even if I die here right now, I know that you won't win. Not as long as Naruto is still breathing."

Ulquiorra narrowed his eyes at the dark haired girl and images of the human prisoner flooded through his mind. "You're starting to sound an awful lot like that girl" Ulquiorra noted as he pushed the orange haired prisoner to the back of his mind and took his other hand from his pocket and gingerly placed it around her neck, slowly applying more and more pressure until the dark haired girls breath was stuck in her throat but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of watching her struggle. "You humans are so foolish. You all put false hope and beliefs in temporary people and as if it offers you some sort of salvation. In the end, it's all meaningless. Hope dies with the person you place it in and Naruto Uzumaki's end isn't far away" he concluded as he tightened his grip around Hinata's neck.

The young girl let out a small airy whimper before Ulquiorra released her wrists and flung her out of the corridor with the hand wrapped around her neck. She landed with a loud thud on the bridge outside as she fell unconscious. "But killing you wasn't in my orders" Ulquiorra uttered even though he was aware the dark haired girl couldn't hear him. With one last look at the still pale figure, the Espada turned his back on the kunoichi and balled his hands within his pockets as usual while he casually walked back to meet with Aizen.

* * *

"Are you sure there's an entrance somewhere here Kakashi? How do we know all the corridors lead to the same place?" Uryu asked the older ninja who was leading the two younger boys.

"Uh well… I imagine they do" Kakashi replied as his eyes curved up, revealing a smile.

"Finding the others might be a bit hard if they lead to different areas…" Shikamaru uttered as he was still leaning on the older shinobi for support as they continued to meet the others.

"I'm sure we'll find an opening soon, we haven't been running for that long" Kakashi assured them until he sensed a familiar chakra signature constantly fluctuating. There was no mistaking that it was a Hyuga's using the 8 trigrams technique. "I think we're close to Hinata" the white haired man confirmed.

"What?! Hinata!?" Shikamaru's voice rose for the first time in awhile. This piqued his interest, he hadn't heard from anyone else in so long it was almost a relief. But when he felt the familiar presence chakra fluctuating, he realised they weren't going to meet under good circumstances. "Kakashi sensei, hurry! We need to get to her!"

The three forms were approaching an area with more buildings and it had seemed to be the more central part of Las Noches. "We're close to the main establishment, we should hurry. Their opponent might be strong" Uryu concluded as he sped up. The young quincy paused and looked up to find a bridge connecting the building of corridors they were just in, connecting with another smaller building. _"It's probably nothing important_" he thought but before he turned to follow the ninjas, he saw a small silhouette fly out from one end of the larger building.

"Wait!" Uryu called to his companions "up there, someone just got thrown out from the building" he pointed to the bridge where the form had disappeared but he knew what he saw. The young quincy created a large solidified circle of Reiatsu underneath them to lift them up to the bridge but it was going too slow for the raven haired boy to wait. "I'm going on ahead, I'll meet you up there."

"Wait, Uryu!" Shikamaru called out but was too late to reach him as the young Quincy had started to form solid spots of Reiatsu, jumping on each of them as if it were a stair case.

"Isn't that convenient" Kakashi mused as he watched the raven haired boy get to the top of the bridge easily. "We'll stay here Shikamaru, it won't help if you strain yourself. We'll catch up soon I hope."

"Right" Shikamaru agreed but felt a little guilty for holding the older man back.

The Quincy jumped off of the edge of the bridge and onto the ground only to find the unconscious Hyuga. "Hey!?" He called to her running towards the pale girl and kneeling beside her, placing his pointer finger and middle finger on the side of her neck, checking for her pulse. It was slow but luckily in tact. He let out a relieved breath of air as he shifted her up so her back could lean comfortably against the wall. "_What happened…"_ he wondered before his head snapped back up _"Renji and Rukia was with her, weren't they!?"_ he worried.

Kakashi and Shikamaru reached the top and had copied the way Uryu jumped over the side of the bridge. "Hinata!?" the young shinobi yelled as the white haired man followed him run over to her.

"Uryu, is she alright?" Kakashi asked, assuming he had already checked.

"She's okay I think. I don't know what happened but she'll live."

"Kakashi sensei" Shikamaru called "Check this out" the young ninja pointed to the dark haired girls neck. There were four bruises on one side of her neck and one bruise on the other which were all oval shaped.

"Those almost look like… finger prints" Kakashi confirmed, although he didn't show it, he was suspicious that this sort of tactic wasn't usually used by an Arrancar. _"It doesn't matter why they spared her though… it's just important that she's still alive"_ the white haired man thought to himself.

"It looks like your friend isn't doing too well but she is not at her end. It's a shame." the three men heard from behind them.

They quickly swerved their gaze to a tall, muscular man standing in the middle of the bridge, blocking their path. He had golden eyes and small but noticeable spikes that had ran down his head towards his spine that matched long black triangles running down his chin. Kakashi stepped forward and narrowed his dark orb at the tall man. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zommari Leroux, also known as Espada number seven. I'm afraid your journey ends here."

* * *

The door to Aizen's conference room where all the Espada had usually gathered opened to Ulquiorra who had continued to walk through. Upon seeing the former shinigami, the green eyed Espada stopped as soon as he entered the room and the door closed. He respectably dipped his head forward and then back up, setting his gaze on the brown haired man. All of the other Espada's had turned to look at Ulquiorra whose clothes were burnt and torn at the sleeves. It was the first time they had seen him even slightly roughed up even though it was just the clothing.

"Well done, Ulquiorra. You've successfully subdued the boy even when he resisted using his power" the former shinigami praised.

"Thank you, Lord Aizen" Ulquiorra responded, his face still blank.

"But I'm curious, how did you stop his transformation?"

This question caught the Espada off guard. Did he do carry out his order insufficiently? Did Aizen actually want to see the full extent of that boys power? He casted his gaze to the Zanpakuto hanging off the side of his waist_ "I quite possibly could've been forced into using that if it continued beyond that stage"_ he contemplated before answering the former shinigami's question. "I used my Solita Vista to transfer what I had seen of him attacking his comrade to make him regain his senses over himself. My calculations weren't completely accurate but the way I had evaluated the situation, I assumed I could transfer my desire to overwhelm the power from the inside out to him. It resulted in effectively diminishing the threat."

Aizen looked at Ulquiorra and gave him a smirk. The former shinigami knew he was the only one in Hueco Mundo who knew of the Kyubi's existence but if the green eyed Espada even got a glimpse of the fox, surely he would question what it was. But to his surprise, no questions were asked. _"I knew you were perfect for the job, Ulquiorra"_ Aizen thought to himself.

"Splendid work" he continued "You're free to leave. I'll summon you when you're needed."

"Thank you, Lord Aizen" the Espada replied as he once again dipped his head forward in a bow then spun on his heel to exit the room. Quickly, he paused and took one last look at the former shinigami. "Before I leave, I would like to know what you've decided to do with the boy for now?"

Aizen let out a small chuckle "don't worry Ulquiorra, Harribel is standing guard outside Orihime's room. I asked her to put him in with her so she can heal his wounds for now. I'd like to meet him and express my gratitude for giving us what we need to succeed. Now go clean up."

There was a moment of silence before Ulquiorra returned his gaze back ahead of him and made his way out the door. "Yes, Lord Aizen."

* * *

Naruto blinked a few times before seeing a light orange hue hovering over him. Quickly, he sat up with a gasp looking around at his surroundings. _"Where am I!? How did I get here…"_ he wondered. Suddenly, everything that happened between himself and the fourth Espada all flooded back to him. "Hinata!? Shinigami!?" He voiced aloud, he tried to stand up but a small shock zapped his head when he hit the orange forcefield. "Ouch!" he cried, rubbing his head. "what the heck is this!?"

"Oh, you're awake" he heard a soft voice state from beside him. He looked over to find a long orange haired girl standing at the side of the room, looking up at the crescent moon that hovered outside of the window before turning to look at him. "Please, don't move for a little longer."

* * *

**A/N: WELL there's a few things I'd like to discuss about this chapter :3 There was so much to fit into this one but I decided that this won't be the last Naruto and Ulquiorra battle! Next time, Naruto won't be so 'animalistic' as Ulquiorra says bahahaha! Usually Ulquiorras eye technique isn't used to actually converse with someone inside their head (I don't think) but I thought it would just be a little more interesting :3 I hope you don't hate the idea too much! And I just loved Rukia's original battle with the 9th Espada so as a small show of respect I thought I'd let that play out as it does :) I thought I'd give Hinata a little more of a part in this chapter but she didn't necessarily fight to her full ability. I'm keen to write out her next battle, doing her more justice! Aaaaand yeah I think that's it for chapter seven! :D I really really hope you enjoyed it, I had so much fun writing this chapter, I think it's my favorite! There's just so much happening and going on and everythings getting so serious and even I'm curious as to whether Aizen will succeed or not! (I haven't figured that bit out yet hehe) But there's so much to look forward to, if you like it, I hope you continue to follow it through with me and lemme know what you think :) Thank you so much for reading, following and for the lovely reviews! **


	8. Last words

Chapter eight

_Last words_

* * *

Waves of hot sand danced throughout the desert as the yellow reiatsu resonated around Nnoitra's figure before the granular specks were sent flying up into the air around the Espada. The black haired shinobi stood his ground as he squinted, trying to look through the grime to catch a glimpse of his enemy.

Guy watched carefully as the sand settled back into its place and revealed the lanky form whose appearance had taken the ninja aback. He noted the two white horns protruding from his long black hair and couldn't miss the extra arms he gained, each clawed hand was holding a large blade of his original Zanpakuto no longer being a sophisticated crescent moon shape but a large domineering scythe. The shinobi held his defensive stance and settled his gaze dangerously on the Espada's smirk.

"So ninja, what's it feel like to see an Espada release their sword?" Nnoitra mocked Guy smugly. "Don't tell me you're going to turn tail and run!" The lanky frame's smirk had been growing weak while he impatiently waited for the Shinobi's reply. He narrowed his eyes towards the dark haired man who still held his arms crossed over his chest with his palms facing forward.

"Now that's more like it" the ninja had finally spoke, making the Espada flinch tempestuously at his words. "Eight inner gates!" Guy began as a turbulent sphere of green chakra encapsulated the shinobi, spinning wildly around the figure, quickly starting to accumulate and trap touches of sand within it before a large gush of wind entangled itself with the chakra, spinning a barrier of sand around the man, making it hard for the Espada to see what was happening inside the circle of energy. "The sixth gate of joy! Open!" Guy exclaimed and with that, the sand had settled on the ground as quickly as it came, revealing the shinobi that was caught in the middle of the small cyclone.

His hair was still suspended above his face from the chakra he was exuding, the Espada scrutinised him, noticing the small changes to his skin which was now a rosy shade of red and the small veins that marked his forehead. Nnoitra locked eyes with the Shinobi who still had the faint green aura casted around his being. _"Those eyes"_ the lanky form silently observed, noting the passing red gleam that shone within them for a moment "how inhuman of you" he taunted the ninja before his smirk returned to his face. "As if you can hold that kinda strength in that meat suit of yours" he ridiculed.

Guy lunged toward the Espada with immense speed, closing the gap between them easily "You think so?" he chided, sounding disinterested "and to answer your question from before… Honestly, you're a lot of things but looking like the shinigami of praying mantises wasn't exactly what I had in mind!"

Nnoitra's eyes widened with rage as his brows furrowed angrily and a huge scowl crossed his features "What was that Shinobi!?" he seethed and raised his scythes "he's faster than before!" the Espada heeded before he side stepped the shinobi who came straight at him with raised fists, aiming towards his face from above. The lanky Espada raced next to a large red pillar before using both of his right scythes to cut it diagonally across, the top half came aggressively tumbling towards where the ninja had landed but he successfully dodged and appeared behind Nnoitra in no more than an instant. The Espada noticed his presence just before he used his bottom left scythe to defend against a deadly kick to the back.

Sand hurdled upwards as the Espada's feet slid against the ground until he came to a stop, still standing with his blade raised behind his back. _"I don't match his speed"_ the lanky Espada noted with his eyes glazed over with fury _"at this rate, I'm only blocking and dodging his attacks"_ he spat out a frustrated scoff and turned around to glare at the unscathed frame "You… won't defeat me" he hissed suddenly blocking Guy's path to swing all four blades back and fourth at the black haired man like a pendulum.

Guy hopped back at each swing until the Espada leapt into the sky and lifted all four scythes, holding his blades out at his sides, readying to bring it down onto the shinobi below him. To Nnoitra's surprise the ninja appeared right under him, his arms raised at shoulder length before delivering a bone breaking kick to his stomach, sending the Espada higher into the air. Nnoitra shut his eyes tight and felt himself coughing, trying to hold back blood. He opened his dark orbs to find Guy beside him, giving him another breath-taking kick to the back before finding himself buried within a pillar.

Before he could respond, the Espada heard a thunderous noise coming from underneath him, slowly looking down, he found Guys leg frantically smashing through the stone post, quickly reaching the lanky frame and sending him out into the open, making him spin and twirl higher and higher into the sky before Guy slammed his fist right under the Espada's chin.

Nnoitra's insides were burning. He was sure his jaw and a few ribs were broken along with a dislocated shoulder and not to mention his top right wrist felt absolutely shattered. Externally, the Espada looked fine and undamaged as his hierro had only protected his skin but the impact from the black haired man's attack had taken its toll. He felt himself slowly coming to a momentary suspension in the sky before he started to fall towards the golden grains on the ground. Before his back met the sand, the Espada was greeted with Guy's predatory eyes. "_Shit!_" Nnoitra's eyes widened as the ninja tightly balled his hand into a fist.

"Asa Kujaku!" The black haired man cried as he slammed his fist to the Espada's stomach. The lanky frame looked down briefly to see a blur of orangey flaming fists striking every point on his body and the way the attack looked truly did it justice, his body burnt with each and every hit. The lanky figure's skin was gradually starting to blacken by the heat and impact before the ninja delivered his final blow to the Espada, sending him crashing into the earth, making a huge uproar of sand to settle around them once more.

Guy landed lightly on his feet amidst the sand, in front of the Espada who sat upright against a boulder. The ninja's eyelids felt heavier than his breathing, he thought he could probably even crash right next to the Espada but obviously, that wasn't an option. He turned to leave for the rest of the group before he felt an excruciating prick through his stomach. The ninja looked down to find one clawed hand, Guy turned his head to look at the Espada leaning forward with another set of arms, one of which was through his gut.

All six gates had remained open and Guy took the opportunity to lunge forward, pushing the unwelcomed hand out as he did. As he held the puncture wound in his stomach, he quickly turned to face the Espada who was now standing up with his trademark smirk. "Did you think it would be that easy!?" The Espada seethed venomously at the Shinobi.

Guy watched with narrowed eyes as the Espada rolled his shoulders in circles and flicked his wrist back and fourth which sounded like two rocks scraping against each other, making Guy cringe._ "That certainly wasn't easy…"_ the black haired man kept to himself before briefly looking down to his wound.

"I told you already, I am the strongest opponent you'll ever face! Don't make me say it again. Or are you just stupid?" Nnoitra relentlessly jeered at the shinobi until he followed Guy's line of vision to his injury, slowly closing. "Your regenerative abilities are far slower than mine" the Espada mocked, his smirk becoming wider until he took a step forward only to pause in his tracks after a sudden sting shot through his right lung where his ribs had been broken. "_Shit_" the Espada hissed to himself while giving the ninja a sour look_ "he punctured my lung, that asshole. My regenerative power doesn't affect my internal organs but if I kill him quickly, I can treat it sooner."_ With that, the Espada drew two more scythes from the folds of his wrists and into his new set of hands.

* * *

Yamato sped towards the two frames, watching the scene unravel since the beginning of the Espada's transformation. He knew that he shouldn't interrupt the fight, Guy was as capable as ever to win especially now that he had opened six gates but he physically couldn't stop himself from racing toward him. Yamato's resolve proved to be stronger than his rationality "_I have no doubt Guy can take him but the faster we bring him down, the faster we can move forward"_ the ninja had made up his mind before coming to a sudden stop at an overwhelming sting in the air until it evolved into the all too familiar presence of a powerful chakra signature.

Looking down at his open palm, he found the kanji for the number two faintly etched into his hand. "_Naruto_…" Deciding what was more important in that moment, the brown haired ninja clenched his open hand into a fist before casting one last side long glance at Guy before turning back for his short journey towards his comrades. _"Stay put, Naruto. You're the only reason I'm here after all_" Yamato furrowed his brows as he then focused all of his attention on the suffocating chakra, looking for any abnormal fluctuations in its current state.

* * *

Sakura's head snapped up, her faint green glow diminished around her hand that glued onto Chad. Ichigo looked from his friend to her face curiously. "Sakura, what's wrong?" the orange haired boy probed cautiously. The pink haired girl's breathing hitched, her thoughts had come to a standstill entirely and a thousand feelings welled up within the depths of her stomach. Worry, panic, sadness but she mainly felt scared. Not for herself but she had recognised this familiar feeling of overpowering trepidation for one of her dearest friends; Naruto Uzumaki.

Determination suddenly unfurled in her chest as it earned a shocked grunt from the orange haired boy defending his eyes from the sand throwing itself up towards his face by Sakura's upheaval, she began sprinting towards her former captain who was now becoming a larger speck in the distance. "Captain Yamato!" the pink haired girl cried.

She turned to find Ichigo hot on her heals, to her surprise a hot tide of frustrating urgency ran through her veins as she sped up. _"How am I supposed to explain this to them? They barely trust us enough as it is… ugh come on Sakura, get a grip. They were never our true comrades to begin with, as far as we're aware they're still a threat to us"_ she decided, furrowing her brows, still ignoring Ichigo's pleas for her to stop.

_"What's the deal all of a sudden"_ Ichigo brooded until he noticed the sinister chakra signature creeping through the air. His brows furrowed in a realisation that had appeared so clear, he could've face palmed for not seeing it sooner. He reached his hand out towards her as the tips of his fingers just lingered just over her bare shoulder, speeding up he had lengthened his reach to firmly grasp Sakura's shoulder before pulling her back by it with enough force for her to spin on her heel and throw a punch at him with her free hand.

Ichigo jerked back and easily caught her trembling fist, gripping it tight, averting his gaze from her raised hand to her green orbs which were already piercing into his amber globes. The orange haired boy was taken aback to see the bite of guilt that clearly welled up within the pools of green, framed by stray strawberry locks. Ichigo's features had softened as he released her fist with care, it carelessly dropped to her side while his other hand remained placed on her tense shoulder though his grip had slackened as it lied gingerly on her skin.

The pink haired girls lips parted slightly as her eyes widened just a fraction at the boys comforting aura he was sharing with her. She tightly pursed her lips and furrowed her brows._ "I've only shared a few hours with Ichigo but I don't want to fight him. His spiritual energy… it's warm"_ she admitted as her shoulder relaxed into the palm of his hand.

A new bunch of familiar emotions welled up inside of her chest as she couldn't help the green of her large orbs becoming glassy though she stubbornly refused to let a tear fall. Somehow, her thoughts would always trace back to Sasuke Uchiha and the familiar feelings associated with him. _"I don't want to fight any of his friends either."_

"Sakura" Ichigo began softly, his tone laced with concern and caution "has this got anything to do with your friend? Naruto? Is he… the cause of the strong spiritual energy floating around at the moment?" his voice becoming firm through his last sentence, sure enough of his conviction.

"Yes" Sakura hesitantly admitted after a moments silence as she watched the boys expression in front of her harden in thought, stealing back the warmth of his hand from her shoulder.

"I need to know what's going on Sakura" his voice was deep and assertive. "How am I supposed to help you if—"

"You probably won't be of any help at all if you knew! It's best if you just stay out of it and mind your own business" Sakura interrupted, staring defiantly into Ichigo's gleaming orbs.

"That's not true" the orange haired boy retorted, remaining calm and collected "if Aizen has him, there's a good chance he's in the same building as Orihime. Why not just kill two birds with one stone, Sakura? Whatever power your friend has…" Ichigo trailed off, not wanting to reveal his hollow mask to her and her comrades until a time it was necessary, avoiding it if he could. But he knew that was not an option in Las Noches.

"Ichigo?" Sakura studied his face as he tore his gaze off of hers in doubt.

"I'm just asking you to trust me, Sakura. Having power you can't even control sometimes to the point where even your friends feel threatened… I get it. I don't know what's up with Naruto but I just get it Sakura. It's obvious you and your friends are strong, if we can just trust each other, I'll bet anything that this will turn out alright."

Ichigo lifted his gaze back to Sakura's as she studied his face. Against her better judgement, she believed him. Before her rationality could catch up to her, she found herself starting to nod, unable to find the words to say to him _"but yes I trust you"_ she decided to herself before her logical side pushed its way to the front of her mind_ "but what does he mean by 'power you can't control'? What was he referring to…"_ After a moment, Sakura shook off any bad notions of the shinigami in front of her as she couldn't help revealing the small smile that played on her lips.

The worried creases that marked Ichigo's forehead disappeared immediately at her nod as a smile had slowly graced his features. The young shinigami was still curious about their problem with Naruto but decided not to press the issue any further for now.

"What's going on here?" Yamato sternly called out from a distance, obviously out doing himself as his breathing was laboured and beads of sweat trailed down his face from under his forehead protector. As he settled in at Sakura's side he cautiously gazed at the shinigami "it looked like you guys were having trouble…" he trailed off, unsure of what to make of it.

"Sakura?" Ichigo asked, allowing her to take the lead as Yamato looked back to his former student.

"We're fine Captain Yamato. We just had a misunderstanding… if Naruto has been taken by the enemy, Ichigo thinks he knows where we can find him and his friend." Sakura shot Yamato a comforting glance and confident smile as her captain studied her face, confiding in her decision. Frankly, he felt comfortable either way, at that moment getting to Naruto was his primary concern.

He looked back to Ichigo "we better hurry then."

"What about Guy Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I'll stay here, you guys should go" Chad caught Sakura off guard as he walked up from behind her, making her jump a little.

"Thank you, Sakura" Chad addressed her before she could tear him a new one for frightening her "you healed my injury." The brown haired boy turned to his friend "I just overheard the last part of your conversation but if you've got to go then go. I can wait for Guy here."

Yamato turned to Chad, a smile curling itself onto his lips "thank you, Chad. Take care of him. Let's go, Sakura, Ichigo" he instructed as he began running once again in the same direction as Kakashi's team. Sakura watched her former captain, noting his confidence in Chad. Her confusion and worry had faded into what had now seemed irrational.

"Sakura, hurry up!" Ichigo yelled from behind Yamato who was now far ahead in front of her.

She turned to look at Chad briefly, gifting him with a smile before turning back and running after the two men in front. "Coming!"

Once the three frames were out of Chads sight, he slowly sat amidst the sand, propping himself up on a boulder behind him, watching Guy and Nnoitra stand off. "I can't get any closer" Chad thought to himself, looking down at the side of his stomach before raising his hand over his mouth to cover his wet cough. After gently retreating his hand from his lips, he found a smear of red coating the surface of his palm.

* * *

Guy stared curiously at the new set of arms the Espada produced _"Just how many is he hiding?"_ the ninja wondered. Before he could prepare himself for anymore surprises, the ominous chakra had reached the two frames who both found themselves distracted by the overwhelming presence.

Nnoitra widened his eyes at the strength of this chakra as he averted his gaze towards Aizen's main headquarters behind the two figures. _"Is this the boys power? It's as monstrous as Aizen's himself if not more"_ The Espada's eyes narrowed in amusement, allowing a wide grin to spread from ear to ear before breaking out into a sadistic chuckle.

Guys attention was quickly brought back to the Espada before him who had returned the ninja's gaze as his laughter simmered down. "What're you laughing for?" Guy questioned cautiously, assuming the Kyubi's presence had brought it on.

"Aizen better hope he can control that boy of yours or it might just end up giving him trouble! What a jackass" Nnoitra chuckled bitterly at the thought of the former shinigami using the full extent of his abilities for a human child. "My power shouldn't belong to someone who can't even do that much" the Espada decided.

"Isn't Aizen your leader?" Guy looked to the Espada quizzically, thinking of Tsunade and all the previous Hokages. To speak of any of them in such a way would be disgraceful.

"Leader?" Nnoitra's grin disappeared and the glare that replaced it was dripping with malice. "Get this ninja, numbers don't mean shit! We're ranked physically but mentally, all those Espada are weak. Bowing down to a shinigami… Che! How disgusting! I just figured I owed him for the extra strength he gave to me. It's got nothing to do with respect or any of that bullcrap. I'm simply returning the favour. Got it? So think twice before you call him my leader."

Guy couldn't say he was too surprised. Just by his encounter with this one Espada, he could confidently say Nnoitra wasn't the type to respect someone so easily especially with the turmoil that exists between Shinigami's and hollows_ "who could blame him?"_ Guy concluded. A strong wave of pity washed over him and stole back any feelings of vexation he once held for the Espada. _"To be defined by a number of strength… Is that all there is to the afterlife for them? Is there no reprieve?"_

The black haired man was lost in a moment of reflection before a large golden light caught the corner of his eye. Looking up, he found a ball of gold energy forming on the tip of the Espada's tongue before it was sent hurling towards the ninja. Guy narrowly dodged the blow, causing a small graze on the side of his arm. "What're you doing zoning out for huh!?" The Espada bellowed in amusement "you'll die sooner if you go off day dreaming!"

Nnoitra glared at Guy through the slits of his eyes, watching as the ninja's chakra grew thicker once again, creating the green whirlwind of energy around his frame. The Espada narrowed his dark orbs at the black haired man. "The seventh gate of shock! Open!" Guy exclaimed as the green aura madly rotated around the shinobi.

A deep growl bubbled from the back of Nnoitra's throat before leaping toward his opponent snarling resentfully, he lifted his top two scythes above his head as the last two he kept hovering over his torso as his defence. "Is all that spirit energy all you have to show!? Just die already!" he spat venomously.

"What you'll see next is nothing like my last attacks. You better have something a lot more impressive lined up if you hope to survive against it." Guy braced himself, placing his two hands in front of him, moulding his fingers into a hand seal resembling a tiger. As air slowly started to gather around his fists, Nnoitra assumed the shinobi had been concentrating his spiritual pressure around them as he had done before but noted that this time, it was colourless. It was simply air, grains of gold had slowly started to rise from the ground but this didn't phase the lanky man. The Espada narrowed his malicious orbs as he quickened his pace, rapidly approaching the still shinobi.

Guy was vigilantly noting the Espada's pace, accumulating as much air pressure as possible for what would be his final attack. _"For maximum impact, I need him to be as close as possible… no matter the risk, this has to work."_ The black haired man narrowed his eyes at the approaching Espada who was now an arms length away until he decided to release the pressure with a loud cry.

"Hirudora! Afternoon tiger!" he shouted as the pent up air sped toward the Espada who stopped in his tracks, only a few meters from the black haired man. Holding all six scythes in front of himself to defend the attack, he quickly formed a large cero on the tip of his tongue, intwining as much spiritual energy he could spare into it. Sharp shots of air were already starting to sting his skin as it slowly engraved small cuts into his arms.

Narrowing his eyes in frustration the Espada balanced his cero carefully, evaluating the precise moment to fire "_this isn't the end"_ he told himself _"I'll blow that attack away with as much force as he wants"_ he assuredly scoffed to himself but he had not expected the mighty beast that started to take form inside of the air, clearly baring its fangs at him, feeling small in comparison. The air frame erupted a ear-splitting roar with enough force to make Nnoitra dig his heels into the sand to keep him from being pushed back.

With that, the bewildering tiger leapt toward the Espada, growling in its wake. "_Shit_" Nnoitra berated himself as his surprise had passed all too slowly before firing his cero into the large forms mouth. The afternoon tiger and the golden ball of spiritual energy wrestled against each other through the air, causing them to come to a standstill in midair as a large uproar of sand around the two energies made it difficult to see what was happening. The gold light was pushing past parts of the tiger until the large beast snapped its fangs shut, diminishing the light that shone throughout the sand.

Nnoitra's eyes widened in angry astonishment as he couldn't hold back the infuriated bellow resounding from the bottom of his throat. His held his scythes out at his side and ran through the jaws of the beast which was now becoming part of the very atmosphere itself. The intense bursts of air enveloped the Espada as Guy struggled to see past the thick wind, searching for a hint of the lanky man. The shinobi hadn't dropped his stance as his hands reminded intwined in the shape of a tiger. "The power of my youth!" he called out into the open to nobody in particular. The thick air had died down as sand fell to the ground, leaving only grime lingering around the two forms. Guy dropped his hands, his chest heaving up and down, searching for oxygen.

The black haired mans legs shook though he refused to give them the satisfaction of rest. Squinting through the grime, he had made out the lanky figure of Nnoitra, still standing as the air had become clearer, Guy could make out the obvious damage that had been done. The Espada's ripped clothing revealed the deep cuts that marked his body and the gaping hole that formed in his chest, beyond the privilege of regeneration.

Being only meters apart, the Espada shakily lifted his top right arm slowly, still holding his scythe. "It's over, Nnoitra" Guy assured him as the Espada's weapons crumbled from the blade to the handle, making the lanky man clench his fist as it dropped to his side. Falling to his knees, the Espada knelt in front of the shinobi who had turned to leave, spotting Chad waiting for him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Nnoitra gaged, talking felt almost impossible. His unrelenting glare pierced through Guys back, making him turn to face the Espada.

"I don't see the point in fighting you any further." Guy simply stated.

"You're… You're weak!" Nnoitra yelled, his throat dry as a desert. "It isn't over until your opponent is dead!"

Guy only towered over the Espada, the wave of pity wouldn't stop biting at his gut. He didn't believe it would leave until he satisfied it. Kneeling down in front of the Espada he gave Nnoitra a weary smile. "You were a tough one to beat" Guy admitted as he flashed the Espada his very white teeth and a shaky thumbs up.

The Espada groaned, almost in defeat at Guy's undying strange ways. "You… idiot" he uttered as everything fell into the dark around him and he felt himself falling forward into an infinite nothing. "I, Nnoitra Gilga died… fighting the strongest."

Guy watched as the Espada fell forward, clear of any vital signs. He stayed by the Espada for a moment longer before heaving himself to his feet and walking a few steps before feeling his torn muscles stinging every move he made. Everything began to spin and his face became pale. "Don't wait for me, Kakashi" was his last thought before he found himself being greeted by the sand.

"Guy!? Guy!" he could hear Chad's cries from a distance before everything faded and his consciousness was lost.

* * *

A/N: I hope you enjoyed part two of Guy vs Nnoitra! :D I'd love to hear what you all think! ^_^ Finally uploaded this chapter! Sorry for the late update, I don't have internet right now so it's hard to get access to upload :( So I made this kinda a short chapter so I could at least post something more to the story :) Thank you for reading!


	9. Orange

A/N: Hello everyone! If you've been following this story for awhile and you're still reading this, I'd love to thank you for sticking to it haha ^_^ Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter nine

_Orange_

Ulquiorra had neatly folded his tattered clothing and placed it on his couch expecting a lower ranked Arrancar to pick it up later during their cleaning hour. In his new attire, he lightly lowered himself onto the seat next to the dirtied fabric, glancing over to it for a moment. Holding his hand out at eye level, he flexed his slim fingers in and out before relaxing it inside of his pocket.

His eyes closed and behind his pale lids replayed his encounter with the fox. His hand clenched into a fist inside his pocket, still vividly feeling the cold, wet nose of the beast. The Espada's lids had opened, revealing deep pools of teal. Over and over he thought about what had transpired inside of Naruto's head but still, it remained enigmatic.

It was was his duty to serve Aizen, not question him. But yet his curiosity knew no bounds, he still couldn't resist trying to figure out how a powerful entity existed inside a young human boy. Ulquiorra let a deep gust of air escape through his nose while his mind drifted over to the seemingly stupid conversations he'd have with Orihime during her stay in Las Noches.

"_Heart? Hope? How trivial. All of those people speak as though these things are right in front of them, easily within their grasp. If this eye does not see a thing, then it does not exist."_ He paused for a moment before his emerald orbs narrowed the slightest bit while he thought back to his encounter with the Kyubi. _"These eyes couldn't see the creature when I fought with the boy. But it was there."_

A knock bluntly echoed throughout his room, making the teal eyed Espada look to the door attentively, disregarding all previous thought. "Hey Ulquiorra, you're in there right?" resounded Starkk's husky voice sounding too impatient to wait for a reply "Aizen sent me down here to let you know he wants you to escort the boy to him now, I'm off until we go to Karakura Town so I'm just gonna take a quihhh—k snooohz" the green eyed Espada gathered the important part of Starkks message before it drawled into an awkward yawn followed by the sound of retreating footsteps.

Ulquiorra remained seated for a few moments longer before lifting himself off the oversized couch and made his way to the door, briefly looking back at the folded fabric sitting on the cushion before making his way down through the corridors to relieve Harribel of her duty.

* * *

Naruto studied the orange haired girl's features with widened eyes as she motioned toward him. He searched her for any hint of a mask or external bone on her body but instead came to the conclusion she looked simply human. _"She's… pretty"_ he mused for a moment after releasing the breath he held in since regaining consciousness. After examining her face, he wearily scrutinised the black and white clothing she wore, comparing it to how it resembled Ulquiorra's formal attire.

She slowly approached him, taking care not to frighten the young ninja while she knelt down beside the orange hue and hovered her hands centimetres over the light. He hastily jerked away, forcing his back to hit the orange encasing with a quick zap, creating a painful shockwave through his spine. Ignoring this he furrowed his brows and lifted his index finger up to point at her accusingly "Who are you and where am I?!" he snapped "and what the hell is this thing!? Let me out right now!" his hand flew to his back where his other hand joined it, peeling himself off the side of the orange case and rubbing his sides where he felt like he had just been burnt like a bird on a wire.

The orange haired girl's eyes widened, almost in confusion, trying to allow all of the boy's queries to process through her mind one by one. "The pain is gone…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he let his arms fall into his lap and he looked from his side to the girl on the other end of the orange hue. "I… I'm healing you. When Harribel brought you in earlier you were badly injured."

_"Who is Harribel… I fought Ulquiorra, then… Argh what the hell happened!"_ he wondered. Naruto's eyes narrowed, the vision Ulquiorra had showed him earlier of his own hand pushing down Hinata had stained his mind. He didn't need to be conscious to know how much of a toll the nine tails cloak had on his body. He casted his gaze down to the ground, mindlessly picking at the corner of a rug that was trapped inside of what felt like his prison cell.

"How are you healing me?" He suddenly found himself asking curiously. "This isn't any sort of medical ninjutsu I've seen before" he observed cynically, thinking back to the ironic feeling of being electrocuted whenever it'd come into to contact with his touch.

"Oh, it's my Soten Kisshun. I don't think I have any training in… medical ninjutsu?" she chuckled nervously, raising one hand behind her head.

"Soten Kisshun?" Naruto cocked his head to the side slightly. "What's that…?"

"Well… I still think of it as my way of healing peoples injuries. As long as you're inside, I think it can heal almost anything!" The right side of her lip twitched upwards as though her definition had brought her a sense of comfort. Somehow, Naruto wasn't buying it.

Suspiciously he asked "What do you mean 'you still think' it's your way of healing people?" never breaking eye contact with the brown eyed girl as he raised one blonde brow.

She uncomfortably casted her gaze down to her hands, nervously twirling her index fingers around each other before reluctantly replying. "Well… Aizen says it's can reject certain events… it doesn't necessarily heal but more like reverse the damage that was done" she ended with an unsure smile at the blonde as she returned her gaze to him.

Her smile had started to fade while she anxiously awaited for some sort of reaction from the blonde. His lips had parted before his jaw dropped completely "WHAT!?" he exclaimed, making her jump the tiniest bit. She wasn't expecting that reaction. "That. Is so. Cool!" Naruto leaned forward grinning, with only the orange encasing stopping him from inspecting her any closer, making her head jerk back the slightest bit. _"But she looks so… normal"_ he noted again. "Who are you?" he repeated, genuinely curious this time.

The orange haired girl smiled, feeling almost comfortable in the blondes presence. "My name is Orihime Inoue" she revealed "What's yours?" returning his question, her bright eyes reflected his curiosity.

"Orihime…" he echoed pensively, backing away to sit in the middle of the orange circle. "Orihime, hmm, why does that sound so familiar?" he rambled to himself, stretching his arms behind his head as he pouted at her in thought, thinking hard of where he's heard that name before. As if suddenly snapping out of some sort of daze, his arms fell back into his lap and the young blonde leaned forward once again "wait, you don't know who I am? It seemed like everyone in this place wouldn't give me a break about being Naruto Uzumaki."

She continued to stare at him questioningly before informing him "I don't really get told much here. I'm just their prisoner really" she casted her gaze downwards once again, forcing an anxious smile to touch her lips.

"That's it!" Naruto exclaimed making her head jolt up to stare at him questionably. "You're Renji's and shorty's friend? The one that was captured by these people?"

"How!? How did you know that!?" Orihime's eyes widened, she didn't quite know who the young blonde meant by 'shorty' but one familiar name was enough to earn her complete attention.

Naruto cocked his head forward slightly as he raised his slim brow once again "Uh we ran into them when we got here. They said they were here trying to save you. Why're you so surprised? They're your friends, aren't they?"

The orange haired girl immediately leaned forward, her hands now placed directly on top of the glowing casing like she were a child in a zoo, gleaming at the boy in front of her with livelier eyes than he'd seen from her since they met. Orihime seemed as though she were towering over him, making Naruto feel a little uncomfortable. "You mean you've seen them!?" her voice was louder and less controlled than before, she was now starting to blurt things out at random without thinking.

"Well… yeah. We've gotten this far with them but we all got separated" Naruto broke eye contact with the orange haired girl "I don't know where anyone is right now… I don't know where my friends are."

Her slim hands gingerly ran down the orange hue and she leaned back onto her knees and rested her hands on her lap. "I'm sorry" Orihime voiced just above a whisper "about your friends I mean. I don't know what happened but… I don't really know what's happening anymore" was all she knew how to end her sentence with.

"Orihime" Naruto began firmly, raising his blue orbs to hers "earlier you said Aizen thinks your power rejects things thats happened in the past, right? Is that why he wants you?"

The orange haired girl stared back at Naruto, this time she was examining him. _"He's so unaware about my powers and just everything that's been happening here in Hueco Mundo. Harribel only said he was an intruder… I suspected Ichigo and the others were the intruders but if Naruto and his friends came with them then maybe I can at least tell him about about Aizens plans for restoring the Hogyoku. But why is he here? What brought them to Las Noches? There's still so much I don't know about him. He's human but I can sense his spiritual pressure, it's too strong for any ordinary human to contain comfortably."_

"Yes" Orihime confirmed after a moment of contemplation "he wants me to restore the Hogyoku to its original form using my Soten Kisshun."

"What the heck is a Hogyoku?" Naruto exclaimed.

"You don't know what the Hogyoku is?" Orihime blinked at the young blonde though it was obvious he was still waiting for her explanation "Well" the orange haired girl began thoughtfully "you see, it's smaller than the size of my palm but it has the power to grant the users desires and give power hollow abilities to shinigami and vice versa. If Aizen's desires were to ever come true, I'm sure it would affect the natural balance of the entire world."

"You're not actually going to do what he tells you, are you!?" Naruto asked exasperated.

Orihime offered the young blonde a smile of comfort "No" she answered him simply but honestly. _"If I can just deter the course of its existence, the worst of this might be over"_ she confidently thought over her resolve. "But Naruto… why are you here?"

Naruto furrowed his brows in thought, lightly clutching his stomach as Tsunade and Kakashi's reasoning resounded in his mind.

**_"It's not you Naruto, it's what's inside of you that this is about!"_**

**_"We have reasons to believe that they want to posses the kyubi."_**

Silently sighing, he continued to ponder. _"Has this got something to do with the Hogyoku? After returning it to its original state then does Aizen want the Kyubi too? But why? How can that benefit him? The nine tails can't just be controlled if that's what he's thinking…"_ Naruto knew that better than anybody.

"Naruto?" Orihime's voice snapped his thoughts in half as his attention came back to her.

"Listen Orihime" Naruto began "I don't know why I'm here but you and I are kinda in the same boat right now. And that means getting outta here and finding our friends, right?"

Orihime's eyes widened as she stared into the blondes bright blue orbs with determination _"He's serious…"_ she concluded. "But if I leave… my friends! They'll—"

"No. Nothing will happen to them" he assured her before she could say what he knew she was thinking "I won't let it. They're already here risking their lives for you, sitting in this place thinking about that won't help them as much as us finding them" Naruto grinned at her so widely, it proved to be infectious as she returned his smile.

The blondes determination and stoic attitude only encouraged her to put some level of trust in the boy in front of her. Orihime felt hopeful for the first time since coming to Hueco Mundo. Though her smile slowly faded _"I have an idea of how to get rid of the Hogyoku… I can't leave without at least trying"_ she concluded.

Naruto nodded once as his grin never let up "sounds good to me! But uh, do you think you can let me out of this thing now?" the blonde asked looking around himself at the orange hue still hovering over him.

"Oh, right" Orihime awkwardly chuckled, raising one hand behind her head again nervously. "Sorry, I forgot about that. But the truth is… you were already healing really quickly before I even erected Soten Kisshun…" Orihime blinked, now thinking back to seeing the blonde for the first time hanging over Harribels shoulder, his skin being quickly replenished around his burnt body.

"Oh, yeah, that…" Naruto started uncomfortably "it's just a perk of being a ninja! Ha…haha…" he laughed as nervously as Orihime as he stretched his arms behind his head and gave her another grin, hoping she wouldn't press the issue. He himself knew he was never a good liar.

"Really?!" She asked in disbelief "can you all do that?"

"Uh, I guess you could say it's just an Uzumaki clan thing."

Orihime broke out another smile and Naruto sighed in relief. "I better take Soten Kisshun down before I forget again." Raising her hands over the orange hue, she quickly dropped them again as she heard the door click and creak open to reveal the fourth Espada darkening the doorway, hands balled deep into his pockets.

Naruto quickly rose to his feet at the sight of the emerald eyed Espada, his hair only just beneath the orange encasing above him but he didn't care. "You" Naruto's husky voice escaped through his locked jaw as he clenched his fists together, his fingernails imprinting crescent moons into his palms.

The Espada stepped further into the room, making his presence known as his spiritual pressure made Orihime flinch in response. "Ul…quiorra?" She asked uneasily as his emerald orbs darted from Naruto to meet hers. As her brown globes had locked onto his, she instantly tensed. His stare was cold and inscrutable, different from his usual calculating glances.

"I am here for the boy, I assume he's had enough time to recuperate" he turned his hardened gaze back to Naruto's turbulent blue orbs "I'd watch that temper if I were you."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Naruto yelled, only just noticing the red aura that started to seep through him again. He sharply sucked in his breath, not wanting to admit the Espada could be right.

"It seems the excess spiritual energy that exists in Hueco Mundo's atmosphere enhances that power of yours. Whatever it is you have appears to be feeding on it to effectively manipulate your consciousness during your weakest emotional points" the Espada informed Naruto of his findings casually, his pools of teal were unchanging during his explanation as if he had already given this enough thought. Naruto could't help but shudder at the Espada's words.

_"'whatever it is' huh?"_ Naruto quoted Ulquiorra in his head _"even after confronting the kyubi is he really that dense? But still… I hate to admit it but he might be right."_

"What are you going to do with Naruto?" Orihime's soft voice broke the silence, a thousand questions ran through her mind about Ulquiorra's last sentence but she asked the one that she felt was most important.

"Did you get friendly with the boy?" Ulquiorra interrogated to Orihime's surprise. She hadn't kept track of how long she'd been in that room but in her mind, it felt like months. The only company she had from time to time was Ulquiorra and even then, he was always silent and cold. It wasn't until he'd gradually stay with her throughout her meals and have the occasional conversation — or debate, she wasn't quite sure — about human emotion even though it ended with him trying to defeat her beliefs of the importance of feeling. But throughout all of his questions about the enigmatic topic of emotion, he never asked one quite like this.

"Are you concerned for his wellbeing?" Ulquiorra continued, never breaking eye contact with the blonde. "Did you think he could offer you some sort of solace? Eventually, he will die. Coming here only hastened his death. Do I need remind you who you belong to?"

Naruto furrowed his brows in frustration "_what is he trying to say?"_ he questioned as his blue orbs moved to look at Orihime who was now staring at her lap.

"Look at me woman" Ulquiorra reinforced his authority over her as she looked up to his emerald orbs.

"No!" Naruto's voice echoed throughout the room, making the young girl flinch and look back toward him as Ulquiorra simply averted his gaze back to Naruto. "No, Orihime, you don't belong to anyone! No one can just own you! Not Aizen, not anyone if thats what you're getting at!" The furious blonde looked back to Ulquiorra defiantly "you're cruel" he began "and it's obvious you don't feel a damn thing, I'm surprised you're this loyal to some guy like Aizen!" After taking a deep breath, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut before flinging them open, challenging Ulquiorra. "You might feel like Aizen owns you but he does not own Orihime. Not her and he certainly won't own me or the Kyubi! He never will" he assured the Espada confidently, too furious to care about revealing his secret.

_"Kyubi…?"_ Orihime wondered as she still looked up at the blonde, assuming he was talking about a completely separate entity _"what is that? He's so sure of himself"_ she thought with awe, admiring the very thing that always seemed to elude her. Resolve.

Ulquiorra seemed to have been taken aback, having trouble comprehending all of the young blondes words. _"He barely knows this girl yet he feels so strongly about her freedom"_ he pondered. "Even so" he began "as long as she is alive, she will remain here to serve Lord Aizen. You too, will serve your purpose soon. I'd hope sooner rather than later" he added for the first time revealing any personal thought.

"You didn't just come by for a chat, right?" Naruto mocked.

"Lord Aizen requests your presence" deciding it was time to discontinue the conversation, Ulquiorra turned to face the doorway while casting a side glance at the blonde "follow me."

* * *

"My name is Zommari Leroux, also known as Espada number seven. I'm afraid your journey ends here."

Kakashi and Shikamaru stood on the bridge examining their opponent while Uryu still knelt beside the unconscious dark haired girl on the bridge, holding her upright.

"Shikamaru, help Uryu take care of Hinata, we need to move quickly" Kakashi demanded.

The young shinobi nodded once as he made his way to kneel beside his comrade "we should bring her further into the building" Shikamaru addressed Uryu, still eyeing Zommari.

"Right… we'll just be in the way here" the young quincy agreed while he awkwardly helped hoist Hinata over Shikamaru's shoulder. "Is that really how you should carry a lady?"

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru raised one slim brow in confusion.

"Nevermind" Uryu sighed sounding resigned _"I guess she won't feel uncomfortable if she's unconscious"_ he assured himself knowing now wasn't an ideal time to debate the matter with the young shinobi as he led the way into the corridor connecting to the bridge.

Zommari's eyes trailed after the three frames running into the lengthy hallway _"they won't get far"_ he assured himself as he turned his attention back to the white haired man blocking his path.

With his one dark orb piercing Zommari, Kakashi straightened his headband to sit across his forehead, revealing the rare Sharingan.

* * *

A/N: And there we have it! Chapter nine :) So there are a few things I would like to discuss ^.^

1\. I felt like this chapter was a little lacking D: Sorry for dedicating it to mainly dialogue, I thought it'd be better to fit it in somewhere so the story can progress a bit more :) It was meant to be a lot longer though because originally I had planned to have Zommari and Kakashi's fight in this chapter and clear up a few things with some of the characters that haven't been mentioned in awhile (don't worry I haven't forgot about them :3) but I was just super excited to update tbh hehe

2\. I also apologise for any inaccurate information, I haven't watched either series in so long (but I miss them aw)

3\. ROMANCE ASPECT! - Sooooooo I can't express how much fun it'd be to incorporate some romance into this fic! And I'm guessing a lot of you got that from chapter eights previous little moment between Sakura and Ichigo (I couldn't help myself!) Buuuut alas I'd like to keep this fanfic as believable as I possibly could so I probably couldn't pull off a little romantic storyline as well :c Although I'm still open to thoughts about this aspect so please, let me know what you think! :) (Also, before we put this topic to rest, I can't promise there won't be a tiiinnnyyy bit of it in the future bahahahaha)

4\. I JUST WANNA THANK EVERYONE AGAIN FOR READING! Especially F3mi, QueenKarin13 and longshotqb :D

And that is all! I hope you guys stick around for the next chapter :)


	10. Kakashi's nonchalance

_Chapter ten_

_Kakashi's nonchalance_

* * *

"I admire your courage for coming here. I will try make your death as quick and painless as possible" Zommari began before he ran at Kakashi as another clone of himself appeared at his side.

Kakashi's Sharingan had picked up every foot step the Espada had made but his body had failed to move just as quickly. In an instant, the white haired man turned around to find Zommari and his clone behind him just in time to block a fatal attack from the Espadas Zanpakuto with his forearm.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as they revealed a hint of confidence. "So you can use clones, huh? Well, so can I" he said matter of factly as he leaped back and with one hand sign there appeared two more clones of the white haired man himself. Zommari lowered his Zanpakuto as he eyed his opponents jutsu.

"I find it truly impressive you can summon those clones of yourself being just a human. I see that it was ignorant of me not to ask for your name as we will be fighting on equal grounds" Zommari voiced calmly, earning a subtle glare from his opponent.

"My name isn't important, I think you have bigger things to worry about than that" Kakashi retorted, avoiding drawing out the battle longer than he'd like it to be. With that, his clones had began to ran at the Espada as Kakashi had waited patiently in his spot. Quick and short chirping noises started to increase as Zommari had watched his opponents clones bear a kunai while it radiated a blue light.

"You have an arrogant air about you, ninja. Your clones are impressive but don't think I am only limited to one clone with my speed" Zommari responded unfazed by the white haired ninja's attack as he and his clone ran at his opponent.

Kakashi's clones came head to head with the same two Espada's as they threw the lightening infused kunai's. Zommari had stopped in his tracks as he quickly side stepped one kunai although his clone had struck down an unguarded Kakashi clone with his Zanpakuto at the expense of being hit with the kunai.

As Zommari looked up to find his clone fall and disappear, he turned his gaze to the empty spot where Kakashi was once standing and watching. The Espada's eyes widened slightly as he heard the sudden increasing sound of chirping and lightening bolts. Zommari span around but was too late as he found himself being pushed back by a burning sensation in his stomach, his gaze averted to the ninja in front of him and his eyes trailed down his arm to where the source of the pain was coming from.

It was only a few seconds later that the ball of blue light dissipated and Kakashi leapt back, out of reach from the Espada. Zommari's shoulders had slouched slightly but he had remained standing. Wearily, Kakashi had narrowed his eyes at his opponent, ready for anything. _"I was expecting Chidori to at least take a bit more out of him than that"_ he sighed to himself.

Zommari straightened himself up after a moment of staring at the blackened and burnt clothes the last attack had left him with. "I have to admit ninja, I wasn't expecting such a skilful attack. You are worthy of an honourable death" the Espada said as he drew his Zanpakuto. "Suppress, Brujería."

Kakashi took a few steps back to distance himself from the Zanpakuto which was now morphing itself into a spiral as Zommari had remained standing behind it with his hands clasped tightly together. The white haired ninja struggled to see past the sudden burst of smoke which engulfed the Espada. He narrowed his eyes in a failed attempt to squint through it but only noticed the smoke starting to solidify into some sort of thick white liquid.

Kakashi took another small step back as a faint purple light emanated around the large ball of white foam before sloppily falling away to reveal Zommari's bottom half enveloped in a large pink pumpkin-like form with numerous eyes all directed at the ninja. Kakashi was taken aback as he stared with both disgust and confusion as his Sharingan searched the entirety of the Espada. As prepared as he had been for a confrontation with an Espada, it still intimidated Kakashi more than he'd like to admit.

_"Fifty eight eyes… This isn't looking good"_ Kakashi wearily locked eye contact with most of them with his Sharingan.

Zommari held up a firm palm facing Kakashi which revealed one eye staring right into his red orb before focusing its pupil on his shoulder before it started to dilate. "This could be trouble" Kakashi concluded before deciding to remove himself from the palm eye's sight and place himself behind Zommari.

The Espada turned his head to cast his gaze to Kakashi as his other eyes followed. "I'm afraid you were too slow ninja. Your right arm is now mine. All things are subject to control in this life. The power of Brujería allows full control over anything my eyes stare at. I call this power Amor and you will now experience it. I can see in your eyes you now feel confused although I can't blame you with your limited intellect. You are just a human being after all. Let me demonstrate the power of Amor" Zommari ended as he lifted the same hand.

A noise resounded from the back of Kakashi's throat as he felt his right arm quickly and swiftly reach for a kunai in his leg holster before he found the blade held to his neck by his own hand. The white haired ninja narrowed his eyes toward the Espada as he grabbed his wrist with his left hand, slowly inching the blade away from his neckline. _"Damn it"_ Kakashi thought to himself _"with this mark, I have no control over my entire right arm."_ He looked up to the Espada just in time to see another pupil dilating but fortunately Kakashi appeared a few meters away from the Espada on his right. With no time to think, he formed two shadow clones which stood on either side of him.

Zommari turned to face the ninja as he observed the two clones standing in front of the original Kakashi. "That was clever, ninja. Although your clones won't hold out against me if I kill you now by your own hand."

The two clones had separated, one had remained running at Zommari from the front but the second clone had been running at him from the back. "Are you forgetting ninja?" Zommari raised his voice loud enough so Kakashi could hear "I have eyes everywhere, you cannot hide from me" with this, the pupils of his eyes dilated and several black suns appeared on the clone in front of him. "From your clones head to toes, they are now under my control" the Espada announced as he turned to target the clone behind him when suddenly the marked clone had dispersed only leaving fading traces of smoke and Zommari felt himself becoming immersed in water from the base of his pumpkin. "Where did this come from?" he questioned.

Soon enough, he saw the original Kakashi fade. "What is this?" Zommari exclaimed, turning to look back at the clone behind him.

"You're not the only one with a visual ability" Kakashi revealed "as soon as you released your Zanpakuto, I was able to cast a genjutsu on all eyes I could make contact with. I remained under the bridge until I could see what you can do. The real me appeared with my clone and now this battle is over."

_"An illusionary ability? But Lord Aizen's zanpakuto is the only one I know that possesses such a technique."_ Zommari's calm exterior broke for an instant as his eyes fixed onto Kakashi in anger. "I underestimated your abilities ninja" he spoke as numerous pupils had started to dilate.

"You should never underestimate an opponent of any kind" Kakashi retorted as his Sharingan picked up every spot Zommari had targeted on his body and had skilfully and quickly dodged every mark before appearing at the end of the bridge, far away from Zommari with his fingers intwined.

"I am still in control, do you hear me!?" Zommari called as Kakashi's Sharingan noted twenty three of his eyes opening and glowing with purple spiritual energy.

"Earth release, mud wall!" Kakashi recited to himself before erecting a large brick wall made of earth and mud between the Espada and himself. Zommari let out an irritated cry before several black suns repetitively hit the impenetrable wall.

"It's time this ended" Kakashi uttered from behind the heap of mud as he formed quick hand signs and held his hand to his mouth before blowing out an immense amount of water at Zommari. The mud wall had dropped and soon the Espada had been devoured by Kakashi's jutsu _"Dammit, this can't be happening"_ the Espada cursed to himself as he tumbled through the turbulent pool his opponent had created.

_"I have to finish this quickly"_ Kakashi thought to himself as he formed his hands into more signs _"before the water drains out completely. Lightening release!"_ With that, he threw his hand into the water as he sent electric currents through the waves Zommari was engulfed in.

Squinting through the water, Kakashi could start making out the faint silhouette of a large round ball. _"Is that him?"_ He questioned. Soon enough, Zommari's arm emerged from the pink ball as the rest of him followed. All eyes on his body remained shut as Kakashi watched attentively. _"That's some sort of defence mechanism"_ the white haired ninja concluded.

Slowly, Zommari opened his eyes and faced the ninja as smaller eyes appeared on his forehead. "You bastard" he exclaimed "damn you, just accept amor! Accept it!" he cried as he started firing several larger suns as Kakashi.

As soon as the black sun touched Kakashi, he vanished into smoke. Zommari's eyes widened as he cried out in frustration, searching around himself to find where the ninja had gone. The Espada's only hint of the ninja's whereabouts was the faint chirping noises that were coming from beneath him just before Kakashi emerged from underneath the ground he was standing on and threw a Chidori straight through Zommari's pumpkin-like base.

Zommari cried out in pain as he toppled over and Kakashi was towering over him in an instant. The Espada looked up and stared into the Sharingan, not being able to contain the vicious glare he was shooting him_ "that one eye, that one measly eye was able to see through and counter all of my fifty eight eyes."_ The Espada thought "Show mercy, ninja" he begged, feeling the electricity still coursing through every inch of his body.

"Tell me, why is Aizen so interested in our village? What is he planning to do?" Kakashi interrogated, narrowing his orbs.

"In death, I will not betray Lord Aizen" the Espada bit out "you humans come here and think you are better than beings like us, as though your existence is more important" he began "but what is the difference between killing us and killing other humans? Lord Aizens plans has nothing to do with your village. Show mercy" he repeated as his voice became exceedingly hoarse.

"There is a big difference" Kakashi concluded as the Espada let out one last cry.

"Bonsai!" he called as he lifted his burnt arms into the air above him "Bonsai! B-Bonsai! Long live Lord Aizen!"

Kakashi watched as the Espada dispersed into dark purple, leaving no physical evidence he was ever there.

_"There is a big difference"_ Kakashi told himself again as he lowered his forehead protector over his Sharingan. _"I almost exhausted all of my chakra in that one fight but it was better than having to resort to Kamui this early on."_ He turned to leave through the exit that Shikamaru and Uryu went through with Hinata although something made him stop in his tracks.

Something familiar in the air spiked and fluctuated and he couldn't help but be drawn to it. _"This isn't a chakra signature but it's coming from someone we've met here."_ He turned back around to see the larger building at the other end of the bridge. Kakashi narrowed his eyes skeptically _"I could just keep going…"_ he thought to himself _"but it might be wiser to have as many allies as possible for the time being, at least until we regroup."_

The white haired ninja approached the building and kicked open the door with as much strength as he could muster. As he peered inside he noticed one figure face down and two abnormally small fractured skulls on the ground beside it. _"It looks like things got nasty in here"_ he thought to himself as he approached the smaller figure and recognised it as one of the shinigami's they had entered Las Noches with. His eyes widened just a fraction as he gently felt for her pulse. _"It's faint but she's still alive"_ he sheathed her Zanpakuto and gently lifted her so her head was resting against his chest comfortably. _"Hm Rukia, was it? We need Sakura if she has any chance of surviving."_

* * *

Naruto followed the fourth Espada in silence down blinding white corridors as two Arrancars stood on either side of their prisoner, guarding against any attempts to escape. The young blonde looked down at the odd blue coloured cuffs that were tightly clasped around his wrists, disabling any movement of his hands. Ulquiorra casted Naruto a sidelong glance, as the young shinobi met his stare with a glare. His emerald orbs lingered impassively on the glazed over blue globes before turning to face a large white door, stopping at the handle.

Ulquiorra took one pale hand from his pocket and hovered a loosely closed fist over the door "Those cuffs will dispel any chakra you try to summon. If you do anything in Lord Aizen's presence, I will not hesitate in killing you." He watched as the blonde furrowed his brows at him, shooting him another sour look before turning to the door and knocking twice. "Lord Aizen, I have brought Naruto Uzumaki as you've requested."

The door cracked open to reveal another Arrancar bowing as it stepped aside while the Espada's light steps echoed throughout the large room. The Arrancar on the blondes right hand side nudged Naruto's elbow to motion him to follow the pale Espada. "Don't touch me" the young ninja spat dangerously under his breath before following Ulquiorra as his escorts remained glued to their spot outside.

Naruto couldn't help but widen his eyes as his blue orbs searched the entirety of the colossal room until he heard his captors footfalls come to a stop. The young blonde imitated him as he stood still in the middle of the room, his eyes falling from the ceiling to a brown haired man dressed in the same clothing pattern as the Arrancars over his shihakusho, sitting at the head of an oval table in a large thrown. Occupying the other seats were figures similar to Ulquiorra, masks of all sorts hiding their true features. All too quickly, Naruto felt like a fly trapped in a spiders web, all eyes were on him, not quite glaring but not friendly either.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Naruto." Aizen addressed the young blonde as his temple rested on his knuckles.

"Aizen" Naruto spat "I can't say the same about you."

The former shinigami's brown orbs focused harder on the young boy in front of him not being able to help the smirk spreading from ear to ear. "I can imagine you'd find this unpleasant after your difficult welcome to Hueco Mundo" Aizen began nonchalantly "but I would like to discuss a proposal with you and I'm hoping you'll find it to your liking."

"Listen here, I'm not interested in anything you have to offer me!" Naruto bellowed viciously at the shinigami, taking a step forward as Ulquiorra warily casted a look over his shoulder "so don't even waste your breath! I'm not doing a thing for you!"

"Oh?" Aizen propped his head up from his hand and narrowed his brown orbs at Naruto, making goosebumps rise on his skin yet this didn't break his resolve. He would not give into the man who threatened his friends and his home. "What is it you think I want?"

"What everyone else who comes after me wants. And you'll be no different." The tone in Naruto's voice challenged Aizen as he glared daggers at him. In return the smirk slipped away from the former shinigami's lips.

_"I thought this kid was just some pipsqueak in a lame orange jumpsuit"_ thought Grimmjow wide eyed as he watched the former Shinigami struggle against his usual calm exterior. He rested his chin in the palm of his hand while his fingers served to hide the smirk playing on his lips as he inwardly sniggered. _"Aizen said he has a whole lot of that chakra that'll be our ace in the hole. He doesn't look so tough to me though. But this kid has got some guts, Either that or he's just stupid."_

The former shinigami smirked, looking malicious this time. Naruto felt uneasy, he could feel his heart do a summersault down to his stomach. "You mean like the Akatsuki?" Aizen interrogated.

"How did you—!?"

"I know a lot of things" the shinigami mused, cutting Naruto off during mid sentence. "I have especially committed to a lot of intensive research on how to extract the Kyubi from you without having to sacrifice your life in the process. Since I'd only be taking its chakra, it will be less of a strain on your body, leaving just a 15 percent risk rate. The nine tails entity will silently slip away without anything to sustain it inside of you. I can help you be rid of this burden, Naruto. More importantly should I say, you will never hurt your friends unwillingly again. All I ask in return is your cooperation and I can offer you the type of life you've always desired."

Naruto's lips parted as he lowered his gaze to his feet. The thought of getting rid of the Kyubi forever, not existing in his realm or inside him for that matter felt excellent. Never again would the village be tormented or his friends have to worry about him being turned into a monster. But at what risk? _"My friends are in danger right now while I'm talking to this joker and he says I won't hurt them without the Kyubi? What's the point of that if I won't even have friends to protect by the time this is over?"_ In an instant, Aizen was staring into defiant blue orbs.

"Stop lying to me, you don't know what type of life I want!" Naruto's voice echoed throughout the spacious room, earning surprised glances from a few of the remaining Espada's in the room. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, you won't have the Kyubi, it's not gonna happen!" Naruto's words lingered like poison in-between them yet Aizen's stubborn smirk never faltered.

"I'm disappointed that you've decided to go in a different direction from my proposal." Aizen's eyes narrowed at the blonde in obvious amusement as his spiritual pressure started to envelop the room. Naruto's shoulders had started to hunch as a quick groan escaped the back of his throat. The former shinigami allowed it to grow stronger around the boy who refused to cave under the pressure. "But with or without your consent, the Kyubi's power will be mine to harness. Its chakra particles are comprised of the only substances compatible enough to integrate into the Hogyoku without sending it into dormancy. Once the two meet, the Hogyoku's awakening duration will be accelerated at a phenomenal rate with additional benefits."

"But Ori…Hime? You said..." Naruto choked out, his muscles were screaming at him to give into the suffocating weight that creeped into the entire atmosphere surrounding him.

"While her ability is great, I doubt it can truly restore the Hogyoku. I don't intend to revert its progression, only to aid it develop further."

"Then why?" Naruto struggled to articulate full sentences, his knees slowly meeting the ground with each second that passed.

"Because her friends couldn't resist rescuing her. Some of the Soul Societies main battle assets are now trapped in Hueco Mundo." Aizen grinned as he casually rested his cheek on his knuckles.

"You…" Naruto furrowed his brows at the shinigami as he straightened his spine, refusing defeat. "You bastard" The blonde spat venomously as a familiar red chakra was lightly starting to seep through the pores of his skin.

The Espada's sitting at the oval table had curiously observed the boy, all wondering the same question as they casted quick glances at one another — _"What is that?"_ It was becoming apparent there was something more to the young blonde than just chakra.

"Lord Aizen" Ulquiorra began awaiting further instruction.

The former shinigami scoffed, grinning wider than anyones ever seen. _"It's brilliant"_ the brown haired man admired _"the fox would truly be a sight to behold. But I'll wield its chakra to its full potential."_ Aizen's spiritual pressure became stronger as Naruto's aura dissipated and the young blonde fell to his knees, too overwhelmed with the thick presence to notice severe burns around his wrists where his chakra was being suppressed. "No need to worry, Ulquiorra" Aizen began "I had Loly and Melony prepare a room for him. Please escort him to it. Preparations need to be made before we can extract the Kyubi. But please ask Orihime to heal him first, we need him to be the pinnacle of health so no complications arise during the extraction."

"Yes, Lord Aizen." Ulquiorra turned to Naruto "Get up" he urged the young blonde as he reached down and grabbed the scruff of his orange jumper before pulling him onto his feet and edging him toward the exit. Naruto clenched his fists tighter, imprinting crescent moons on his palms and feeling the burns on his wrists as he tried to will himself to stay composed, not wanting to give Aizen the satisfaction of this victory.

Once the door had slid shut, the remaining Espadas attention had returned to Aizen. "As for the rest of you" the former shinigami began "prepare to depart for Karakura Town. Once the conversion of chakra to the Hogyoku is complete, I will send a messenger to inform you when we take our leave. Until then, if you run into any of the intruders eliminate them. You're dismissed."

Grimmjow hastily pushed past the other Espadas until he was the first out of the room. _"You got it"_ he silently chuckled to himself as a menacing smirk curled itself onto his lips.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry this took me so long to update! If you're still reading this than I thank you immensely :D Also, I feel that the fight between Zommari and Kakashi was lacking so I apologise if you've picked up on that, I just really don't like Zommari so I found it was a little difficult to write. (Sorry to those who do like him though!) but I hope you like it anyway! I'll try not to delay the next chapter as long as this one, especially because I'm so excited to write it :D Thanks again for reading!


	11. Disclosure

_Chapter eleven _

_Disclosure_

* * *

Sakura, Ichigo and Yamato ran through the barren desert in silence since they had left Guy and Chad. The only signs of civilisation had been towering pillars, occurring very often throughout their journey. It wasn't until Sakura could make out faint buildings ahead of them that she realised they were making quick progress. "Guys, check that out up ahead" she called as she narrowed her eyes towards the dark building outlines.

"It looks like we're getting to the main centre of this place" Yamato sighed "the sooner we find Naruto, the sooner we can regroup and figure out what our next move is. So you're sure you know where Orihime and Naruto would be?" he asked turning to Ichigo.

"Well" the orange haired boy began "not exactly but—"

"What!?" Sakura exclaimed "but just before you said you knew!"

"Hey! Don't be so quick to judge, let me finish my sentence first" Ichigo retorted, earning an irritated sigh from Sakura, he continued "it looks like we're getting close to Aizens main headquarters where he and the Espada's retreat to" he thought the idea of the Espada's actually having a 'home' sounded too weird for his liking.

"So it only makes sense that Orihime would be in a place where they could keep constant surveillance over her. Same with Naruto so that's where we have to go" Ichigo concluded as Yamato casted a quick glance his way.

"That sounds plausible…" the older shinobi expressed pensively "then we might as well have a look around that building while we're here."

"Besides, have you seen any other place where they could congregate?" Ichigo questioned, hardening his verdict.

"You've got a point" Sakura added reluctantly.

The three frames had came to a stop outside of the main building "then let's go" Yamato decided while stepping through a large doorframe which led to a spacious room by a long set of stairs. "It doesn't look like there's anybody here at the moment, let's hurry" Yamoto took the lead as Ichigo and Sakura followed closely behind him.

"This room is too big" Sakura stated in almost a whisper, afraid the echo's of her voice could draw unwanted attention. She allowed her gaze to roam the ceiling of the colossal room which was supported by numerous pillars, neatly organised on either side of the area. After awhile she set her sights below her, searching the floor underneath them for any possible way to go next. "I can see two openings at the bottom of these stairs on either side of the room" she pointed out "I don't think we should split up to look around" she added hesitantly.

"I think you're right, Sakura. It'd be smarter if we all stayed together until we could regroup. You too, Ichigo" Yamato responded.

After a few minutes of listening to nothing but their own footsteps they had reached the bottom. A silence ensued over the three forms before Ichigo broke the silence "I think we should take the door on the right. It's better than standing here and thinking about it."

Sakura and Yamato exchanged a look before the brown haired man spoke out "Alright, we'll try that first. As you said, it's better than just standing here. Sakura?" He looked to the pink haired girl and searched for approval which he quickly received as she gave him an affirmative nod. "Let's go then."

The three figures starting running to their chosen exit until Sakura stopped, feeling an acute gaze fixed onto her back. Slowly, she turned her sights back to the entrance and her green globes landed on a figure standing at the top of the staircase.

"Sakura, what's wr—" Yamato paused. His line of sight had caught onto what his former student had been staring at as he looked at the darkened figure in the doorframe, squinting to try get a better look. _"It looks like we've got trouble"_ the brown haired shinobi thought to himself before he noticed the room was completely silent. He averted his gaze to see Ichigo stop in his tracks and for a moment, gape at the unknown entity.

One footstep from their adversary was all it took for the two Shinobi to pull out a defensive kunai and prepare for what was about to take place. His footfalls were light and precise, he was seemingly elegant in the way he composed himself as he made his way down the stairs. "_This Arrancar is much more sophisticated than what we've encountered so far, could this be an Espada Ichigo mentioned earlier?"_ Yamato wondered as he noted the way the dark form navigated down the staircase.

"I know you" Ichigo announced, earning a surprised glance from his two companions.

"Ichigo?" Sakura almost whispered, her emerald orbs fixed on the orange haired boy in curiosity. "That almost sounded like he formally knows this guy" she silently noted.

"Ulquiorra" Ichigo confirmed aloud.

"How interesting that you know my name" the fourth Espada stated with his usual nonchalance. As he descended further down the staircase, the two Shinobi could now clearly see his perplexing features.

Yamato narrowed his eyes in a glare, sure of his previous deduction "_Even_ _I can practically feel his energy, he's a strong opponent."_ He stole a quick glance in Sakura's direction before looking back to the Espada. _"We need to go."_

Sakura's eyes had widened as she studied the Espada's face. She examined his peculiar skeletal horned helmet, the green tear-like stripes trailing from his eyes and over his cheeks and his jet black hair. She noted how he casually kept his fists balled deep into his pockets and his straight posture.

"I don't think I've ever told you my name though" Ulquiorra continued, his voice snapping Sakura out of her sudden shock. He took his last footsteps off the staircase and was now at eye level with the three forms. "At any rate, Rukia Kuchiki is dead" he announced as he fixed his deep teal globes on Ichigo.

Sakura inhaled a sharp breath and turned to Ichigo, She caught his eyes widen markedly. her features creased in concern for the orange haired boy in front of her.

"More accurately, her and Espada number nine killed each other. Her entire body was covered in wounds and she was run through by a trident. She couldn't have survived" Ulquiorra continued as he watched Ichigo, still as nonchalant as ever.

_"She killed an Espada?_" Yamato silently contemplated. He remembered what Ichigo had told them about the Espada's, they sounded almost like they would be considerably stronger than Rukia's small form, the brown haired man almost found it hard to believe.

Ichigo's brows furrowed as he took one step forward "I wouldn't be so sure about that" he responded "just a moment ago I felt Rukia's spiritual pressure decrease. You weren't fighting her, there was no way you would kn—"

"Synchronised awareness. That was one of Espada number nines talents. He had many responsibilities and that was one of his roles. In the exact instant he engages in battle he can convey information to his comrades."

Ichigo turned on his heel after a moment of silence and continued to their chosen pathway. "Sakura, Yamato, let's go. We don't have time to spare" the young shingami decided, his voice was cold and hard as he kept his head down.

Sakura exchanged a look with Yamato as they wearily followed Ichigo towards the doorway.

"Where are you going?" Ulquiorra addressed Ichigo, never moving from his spot although he had caught the attention of the two ninjas.

Ichigo stopped and the two shinobi mimicked. "I'm going to save Rukia" he confirmed.

"I told you, she's dead"

"I don't believe you."

"You're very stubborn. Is it a good idea to leave without killing me?" The Espada questioned, his silky voice sent chills down Sakura's spine at that sentence.

"I have no reason to kill you."

"What what do you mean by that?"

"You may be my enemy but the fact is you haven't hurt a single one of my friends yet."

"I see. What if I tell you that I was the one who forced Orihime Inoue to come to Hueco Mundo? What if I told you she is not the prize Aizen was after but simply a means to an end? And you ninja" he began as he turned his gaze to the two shinobi "what if I told you, that boy with the red chakra was? We've successfully obtained both of them.

In a flash, Zangetsu's bandages were abandoned and Ichigo's formidable blade was in contact with Ulquiorra's forearm, streams of blue spiritual energy emitted from the sudden attack. Sakura and Yamato spun around, furious. _"They have Naruto!"_ Sakura's blood boiled with anger as she started infusing as much chakra as she could spare into her right fist until she felt warm fingers wrap around her wrist. She looked up to see her former captain returning her stare.

"I know, Sakura. We were too slow…" Yamato furrowed his brows, almost as if he were disappointed in himself while he stole a quick glance at his bare palm. He released her wrist as her chakra flow fell back into its natural rhythm. "Right now, we need Ichigo's guidance around here. We can't afford to lose him. But this battle is one between him and that Espada, we shouldn't get involved unless we have to."

"Captain Yamato…" she pursed her lips in contemplation as she thought of Naruto. "Alright" she agreed as they watched Ichigo rebound back to his original spot.

"Yamato, Sakura. This time, you get to see what I can do" Ichigo never broke eye contact with Ulquiorra "make sure you stay back. He doesn't want us to get by but unfortunately things won't turn out the way that he'd like. I must move quickly" with that, the orange haired boy braced himself for his battle. "I'm going to go at this guy with everything I've got." A deep red Reiatsu started to exude from Zangetsu as the two Shinobi watched, taking a few steps back. "Bankai!"

Sakura threw her arms up to cover her face, red Reiatsu swarmed around Ichigo but it felt warmer than his usual spiritual energy, almost aggressive. _"Is this really his power?"_ for a moment, she felt her chest tighten as something about him changed almost completely.

Red Reiatsu kept growing and soon engulfed almost everything around the orange haired boy. Sakura squinted attentively, not missing a beat until the Reiatsu disappeared and it was replaced by a thick type of smoke. She saw a faint dark form through the smog "_Ichigo_?" she wondered as he leaped out into the open.

Her eyes remained on his back as she let out a relieved breath of air she didn't realise she was holding in. Instantly, her gaze traveled back to Ulquiorra. Something about his stunned expression upon seeing the young shinigami emerge from the smoke made her uneasy, she assumed this man wasn't capable of showing any emotion until now. _"What's gotten him so shaken up?"_

_"What is that form?"_ Ulquiorra speculated as he stared into dark eyes and the mask that fitted Ichigo perfectly. _"How can he possess such spirit energy? It's as if he's one of us."_

The sudden feel of Ichigo's red Reiatsu caught his attention again, he could see him swing Zangetsu above his head as the red aura swarmed in circles around the thin blade. Ichigo summoned as much strength as he could into this one attack and swung Zangetsu down at Ulquiorra as an even larger burst of deep red engulfed his form. To his dismay, the Espada took one hand out of his pocket and blocked his attack with his forearm once again, only this time the pressure from the attack made the ground beneath the Espada break until he flew back through numerous pillars.

Ulquiorra was quick to regain his composure as he elegantly twisted his body so his feet gently landed on the next pillar, he pushed himself off with tremendous speed, leaving the pillar in ruble.

_"Such intense power"_ Yamato gaped at the two forms _"that boy_" he locked his brown orbs on the orange haired boys back _"that power is not of human origin, even I can sense the great spiritual energy coming from him. What is he really?"_

"It's over!" Ichigo growled as he raised his blade once more "Getsuga Tenshou!" With that, he brought his blade down as it cut through his own red Reiatsu. Ulquiorra was quick to land on his feet and took one hand out to catch the speeding red burst of energy in his hand. It was no doubt powerful as the Espada was being pushed back and forced to take his other hand from his pocket to deflect it. In a last effort to defeat the Espada, Ichigo's attack grew fiercer and eventually overwhelmed Ulquiorra, engulfing him in the thick spiritual energy.

As quickly as it came, the overwhelming attack dissipated and the tip of Zangetsu met the ground. Ichigo's arms shook for a moment and his breathing was laboured.

"Ichigo?" Sakura's soft voice had graced his ears from behind him. His muscles tensed and his breathing stilled against his will as his lungs begged for more oxygen.

"_Sakura_" He thought as he shut his eyes tightly. "_Did she see my mask?_" he wondered. The thought of Yamato and Sakura thinking differently or repudiating him now fazed him slightly. He didn't want them to be afraid of him. _"What am I thinking? I've done this for Orihime and everyone else I care about. To protect them."_ the orange haired boy sighed to himself as he slowly turned to face them just before his mask started falling away into nothing.

"Ichigo!" Sakura stared at the young shinigami's back while her voice echoed throughout the room, not aware of how loud she was as her legs carried her swiftly towards him, quickly closing the distance between them. _"He seems hurt"_ she thought anxiously, preparing her chakra to heal any injuries he sustained.

"Sakura, wait!" Yamato called _"Something is different about him, I don't trust it"_ the older man thought wearily.

Before the pink haired kunoichi could react to her former captain, Ichigo shot her a side long glance before carefully turning to face her and Yamato completely. All too quickly she made an abrupt stop, her legs refused to take her any further and she froze in her spot. It was no longer warm honey orbs she was looking into anymore but cold eyes of a hollow. Her breath caught in her throat as she struggled to comprehend what exactly happened to the young shinigami she came to see as an ally.

Silence fell over the three forms as Sakura and Yamato could only stare at the mask falling away from the young shinigamis face, leaving only his hard eyes, scanning both of them for any hint of malevolence. Yamato looked over to his former student just in time to see her entire self tense and the rosy tint of her cheeks fall from her face, making her look as pale as paper but that had faded as quickly as it came.

Without warning, Ichigo felt a looming shadow above him. He looked up wide eyed to find Sakura closing in on him with a chakra enhanced fist, raised high above her head as she let out a cry. His dark eyes widened as he leapt to the side, narrowly dodging her attack. _"I barely even saw her move, I wasn't expecting that reaction"_ Ichigo scoffed to himself.

The ground caved in underneath Sakura's feet as she landed where Ichigo had once been, her fists shaking with the anger that had replaced her rude awakening. "What are you?" Her green orbs bore into Ichigo's as they returned to their natural shade of brown. "Have you lied to us this entire time?!" She spat as frustration slowly crept into her eyes.

"Sakura!" Yamato called as he ran to her side and put his hand on her shoulder to restrain her, though he never took his eyes off of the orange haired boy.

The pink haired kunoichi narrowed her gaze at the young shinigami, furrowing her brows and clenching her fists as she took a deep breath. "What are you, Ichigo?" she repeated loud enough that it faintly echoed through the large room, proud her voice didn't shake as she expected it to. "Are you one of us or are you one of them? Because if you are…" her fists shook as her glare hardened. A vision of the young Uchiha leaving Konoha flashed in her mind as familiar sting of betrayal resurfaced.

"Ichigo, I think it's time you enlightened us" Yamato agreed.

"Having power you can't even control, sometimes to the point where even your friends feel threatened, I get it." Ichigo muttered as he kept his honey orbs firmly locked on the two shinobi.

Sakura's wrathful exterior dropped and her eyes widened at the young shinigami in front of them as her anger was quickly forgotten and replaced with the memory of their conversation that happened just a few short hours ago.

* * *

_"I need to know what's going on Sakura" his voice was deep and assertive. "How am I supposed to help you if—"_

_"You probably won't be of any help at all if you knew! It's best if you just stay out of it and mind your own business" Sakura interrupted, staring defiantly into Ichigo's gleaming orbs._

_"That's not true" the orange haired boy retorted, remaining calm and collected "if Aizen has Naruto, there's a good chance he's in the same building as Orihime. Why not just kill two birds with one stone, Sakura? Whatever power your friend has…" Ichigo trailed off as an uneasy look fell over his features for just a moment._

_"Ichigo?" Sakura studied his face as he tore his gaze off of hers in doubt. "What was he just thinking about?" she wondered, not missing the uncomfortable air that surrounded him._

_"I'm just asking you to trust me, Sakura. Having power you can't even control sometimes to the point where even your friends feel threatened… I get it. I don't know what's up with Naruto but I just get it. It's obvious you and your friends are strong, if we can just trust each other, I'll bet anything that this will turn out alright."_

* * *

"That's right" Her green orbs dropped to the ground as she remembered the warmth and support Ichigo had offered her back then. _"That was the moment I chose to trust Ichigo. This must've been what he was talking about. If he was going to lead us into a trap, he's had so many chances to have done so by now."_

"Sakura?" Yamato questioned, examining her pensive features "are you alright?"

The pink haired kunoichi looked up to face her former captain as a ghost of a smile settled on her lips. "Ichigo has a lot of explaining to do but Captain Yamato but I—"

"Impressive" came a familiar nonchalant voice from afar "even with both hands I couldn't stop it. I'm quite surprised. Was that it? Finished Ichigo?"

"That can't…" Ichigo spun around to leer at the Espada in shock, his eyes widened as he turned to look at the two shinobi though their focus was on the now standing Espada.

"Hnh" Ulquiorra dusted his shoulder off nonchalantly as he placed his other hand back into his pocket "it would appear that it was. How unfortunate." With that, the Espada raised his hand and pointed at the young shinigami.

"Get back!" Ichigo called to the two shinobi before raising Zangetsu.

"Ichigo!" Without thinking, Sakuras legs continued to push her forward, towards the young shinigami but it was too late.

A large cero was fired from the Espadas fingertip and directly hit the two forms in front of him, the cero shot through the stone wall and through the barren desert. "Crap, Sakura!" Yamato cried as his wood locking wall he had only just summoned collapsed from the impact. _"Dammit, my jutsu was too slow"_ the brown haired man clenched his fist before seeing a blur of green speed past him and out of the hole in the wall.

The smoke started to clear and there was no sign of Ichigo or Sakura. Yamato's eyes widened as he looked out of the shattered stone wall and saw three figures running through the sand. Two of which was Ichigo and his former student. _"Please Sakura, stay alive"_ he silently begged as he jumped out the hole and ran after the figures.

* * *

Ichigo looked down at the unconscious pink haired girl in his arms "Sakura, Sakura!?" he called, trying to wake her or get any sign she was the smallest bit conscious. "Try to hold on, I'm gonna find you somewhere that's safe, you can rest!" he choked out before finding Ulquiorra appear at his side and in an instant, the Espada delivered a breath taking blow to Ichigo's stomach but he never loosened his grip on the pink haired girl. He clenched his jaw from the pain as he was thrown into one of the large red pillars and collapsed into a small room inside of it.

A solid part of the pillars wall smacked Ichigo on the back as he struggled to lift it off of himself, he looked up to find Ulquiorra standing at the smashed part of the pillar eyeing him. He caught a glimpse of pink in his peripheral vision as he looked over to find an unconscious Sakura lying next to him, he turned his full attention back to Ulquiorra before finding the strength to jab him in his right shoulder with Zangetsu.

"You're the leader of the Espada, aren't you?" The orange haired boy began as a grin formed over his features "So, it's very simple. What I have to do is defeat you in battle and this war is as good as over."

"I see" Ulquiorra began, his nonchalant facade never fading "it seems that you have been misinformed." With that, he grabbed Ichigo's blade and swiftly redirected it away from himself as his white shirt ripped and revealed a large 4 engraved into the left side of his chest.

Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes as they widened in disbelief "You're… the fourth?" In no more than a mere second he looked down to find Ulquiorra's pale hand through his chest, the Espada's voice seemed like a distant memory now as he fell forward into the darkness that started to envelop him. He landed harshly on his stomach as the world slowly started closing in on him. The last thing he saw were pink strands of hair framing the familiar face of Sakura Haruno. "_Wake up_" he thought weakly before he completely gave himself over to the darkness.

* * *

"Naruto" echoed a deep growl.

"Huh?" The blonde haired boy groggily responded at hearing the menacing voice.

"Naruto!" It repeated angrily. "Stop wasting time, Brat. Wake up."

Naruto's eyes opened in a daze as he turned his head to see himself floating on top of shallow water. "Argh!" He exclaimed in frustration. He picked himself up and squeezed parts of his clothes dry before straightening his spine to find himself staring into dark crimson orbs. "Not this again! What did I tell you before? I'm not letting you take control" he pouted as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Listen to me, Brat" the crimson eyes radiated with a different kind of aura that Naruto wasn't used to. "I've been watching you use my chakra so recklessly since we got here."

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief "are you serious!? Your chakra is the whole reason I can't even fight properly!" He turned away and furrowed his brows angrily "it's always leaking out and forcing its way to the surface." He turned back to face the Kyuubi as he raised his thumb to point to his chest "if you want to win this you're gonna have to let me handle it! Your chakra is just in the way here." He ended as his weighty tone hardened.

"You're a fool, Naruto. You've been told the atmosphere here in Hueco Mundo feeds the power and control of my chakra over you. If I had made the decision, I wouldn't haven chosen to be sealed inside of a brat like you but right now your will is still stronger than my desire to break free. I don't like to repeat myself but I'd rather stay here than be handed over to beings that aren't of this world. Don't underestimate that Shinigami you just met or you will regret it, his power is more than you could take on alone."

Naruto shot the Kyuubi a skeptical look as he raised one slim brow "You know, you're extra chatty today. Do you have a point?"

Crimson orbs hardened as they glared at the unfazed blonde haired boy. "Don't test my patience brat, the chakra I'm going to allow you to harness should be used wisely. That is all."

"Chakra you're going to allow me to harness?" Naruto questioned as his arms fell to his side while he now looked up to the Kyuubi's outline in genuine interest. "What do you mean?"

The large fox growled as his crimson orbs narrowed in on the young blonde in front of him "you really are stupid, aren't you?" he spat.

"Hey, don't insult me! You could've elaborated on that or something, you know?" retorted Naruto as he returned his arms to their original position over his chest.

"Just this once and only once, I am going to lend you my power Naruto." the Kyuubi began as the young blondes lips parted slightly and his blue orbs widened. "But to obtain it, you must loosen the seal."

Naruto's startled exterior dropped as he casted his gaze downwards and let his arms drop to his sides. "I don't believe you" he uttered, not facing the fox. "To loosen the seal is asking something that could put the village at risk when we get through this."

"Don't be mistaken brat, I will break free one day. But if you don't loosen it now then your village will already perish if that Shinigami succeeds. If you will not cooperate with me then you will lose."

A silence ensued over the pair as Naruto's blue orbs were locked onto crimson fury until the young blonde decided to break the silence. "No matter what happens" he began "you won't be going anywhere. I won't let that Shinigami have you. But I won't put the village at risk either."

Crimson orbs burned into Naruto, the Kyuubi had been momentarily defeated. "Don't say I didn't warn you, brat." With that, the large crimson orbs retreated back into the shadows as Naruto had lost sight of any trace of the orange.

"Naruto!"

"Huh?" The young blonde looked around, he had been left alone with only himself.

"Naruto!" A faintly familiar voice called him again. His eyes had flung open as he returned back to his reality, finding a concerned Orihime hovering above him.

Flustered, the young blonde sat up but his forehead had collided with something solid. A noise resounded from the back of his throat while he fell back down on the couch he was on and rubbed his forehead. "Ouuuch" he groaned before realising what he hit was Orihime.

He briskly sat up again only to find her crouched over herself holding her own forehead "I-I'm sorry" she said quickly as she faced him again "I didn't mean to startle you, you just seemed like you were having a bad dream." She awkwardly chuckled and her hand left her forehead and retreated to her lap.

"No! I mean, I should be the one who's sorry!" Naruto blurted out as he mimicked her awkward chuckle "I guess I kinda was having a bad dream" he raised his arms behind his head as he grinned at her "I didn't actually mean to head butt you or anything!" His grin quickly faded as he looked around himself to find he was back where he was when he first got here. The burns around his wrists had disappeared and he was feeling just how he was before he met Aizen. "Orihime?" He voiced as his hands fell into his lap "did you heal me again?"

"Oh, yes. Aizen instructed me to heal you the best I could. You were passed out by the time you got here, you seemed physically exhausted" she informed him.

"I see" he cast his gaze down to the floor where it had remained as he replayed his encounter with the Kyuubi in his head. _"If I decide to use the Kyuubi's power, I can destroy this place and Aizen, everybody will make it back safely. But…" _

Orihime examined the young blondes faraway expression as she sat on the seat beside the couch "Naruto? Are you sure you're alright?" she asked wearily.

"Orihime" he began sternly "you need to leave this place and find your fri—"

An explosion erupted from the side of Orihimes room as stone flew at them, Naruto swiftly threw himself over the orange haired girl to protect her from any offending rocks. "What the—" Naruto began before he found a dark figure through the smoke, pacing its way through the room as it quickly approached them.

"Who are you?!" Naruto called as a tall man with light blue hair stopped an arms length away from them.

"Well" Grimmjow chuckled slightly "it looks like I've interrupted something. The two prisoners getting cosy, huh? Sorry kid but I'm gonna have to borrow her for awhile."

"Why you" Naruto started as he formed a hand sign "Shadow clone—"

"Naruto, wait!" Orihime called "the cuffs on your wrists, if you try to use any of your chakra they'll only hurt you more, your chakra would only evaporate."

"Tch" the young blonde looked down at the glowing blue bangles _"I forgot about them"_ he sighed to himself before looking back at Grimmjow who still maintained his menacing smirk. "I don't need my chakra to beat this guy! I'll wipe that smile straight off your face!" He cried before running at the taller man.

"Don't fool yourself kid, without your chakra you're just some scrawny loser. Why else would Aizen want you?" Grimmjow's palm came into contact with Naruto's fist but he caught it with ease.

The young blondes brows furrowed as he shot the Espada a glare and leapt back, snatching his fist before appearing behind him and delivered a kick to Grimmjow's side. The young blonde appeared beside Orihime in an instant. "_Dammit_" he thought _"I put so much strength into that last attack, I thought it'd at least put a mark on him or something. It looks like it didn't even affect him at all. It looks like I will need my chakra_" he ended with a pout.

"Is that all you can do kid?" Grimmjow used a sonido to appear a few inches from Naruto as he forcefully reached for the young blondes face and threw him into the wall beside him.

"Naruto!" Orihime cried as she ran to him and erected Sōten Kisshun around the young blonde.

Naruto hoisted himself into a sitting position as red chakra started to seep from his pours. _"Dammit, why is this happening now"_ the blonde haired boy spat under his breath as he stared at the chakra cuffs. Orihime squinted slightly as she wasn't sure if the red aura surrounding him was her imagination.

The chakra bracelets around his wrists soon turned red as the fox's chakra intensified, Sōten Kisshun's healing ability was no good as the cuffs still burned deeper marks into his skin. Naruto let out a small whimper as he clenched his fists together from the painful affliction.

_"It's that same red aura from before"_ Grimmjow observed as he tucked his fists into his pockets, mildly intrigued with what Aizen was so fascinated with.

A small cry of pain escaped Naruto's lips as the red aura grew stronger around him and the chakra bracelets continued to become a brighter red until they shattered from the intensity of the chakra. They broke apart and rattled to the ground as the young blonde subtly panted from the residual pain but it was already starting to slowly fade away.

"Naruto?!" Orihime called _"he couldn't have just broken those, could he?!"_ she wondered as she watched his wounds heal slowly from behind the orange encasing.

The red aura around the young blonde slowly dissipated as he stood up and used one hand to balance himself against the wall. "I'm fine Orihime. My wrists will heal on their own."

"Oh… okay" Orihime reluctantly took down the orange encasing as she looked back to Grimmjow. She was taken aback for a moment as all traces of amusement disappeared from his features.

"Well then" Naruto began while rubbing his healing wrists "now that that's out of the way, how about a real fight?" he scoffed at the blue haired Espada.

Grimmjow looked from the broken cuffs on the floor to the young blonde and started to chuckle, earning a confused gaze from the two forms in front of him. His chuckle soon turned into laughter as he locked eye contact with Naruto. "So whatever that was just now is going to help us win this war? Now, that" his expression hardened as his smirk found its way to his lips "would be an interesting fight. But I've got someone I need to take care of right now and I need you to help me" he revealed, turning to Orihime just before using a sonido to appear beside her, she gasped as he threw her over his shoulder and made his way to the exit.

"Orihime!" Naruto called as he formed a hand sign "You're not going anywhere! Shadow clone jutsu!" A battle cry escaped Naruto's throat as he and his clone ran at the taller man while forming a turbulent rasengan in the palm of his hand, making the young blonde wince as the marks around his wrists still burned slightly.

"tch" Grimmjow scoffed irritatedly at the young shinobi as he turned back to face him. He was all of a sudden momentarily taken aback when he saw the blue ball of light coming at him. Orihime gasped slightly as she felt the Espada's shoulders subtly shake with what felt like amusement before he broke out into contemptuous laughter as if on que. "Alright kid, I can't kill you or Aizen will have my head. But he never said anything about a little self defence" his voice dripped with sarcasm as he set the orange haired girl down.

"Wait!" Orihime called but was only ignored as Naruto closed in on the taller man and pushed his Rasengan forward with as much strength as he could muster.

Grimmjow eyes widened in excitement as he took one hand from his pocket and caught the blue ball of chakra in the palm of his hand as he used a Hierro to thicken his skin. "I'm no fool! That is a pretty powerful attack you have there but using my Hierro alone is enough to stop it. Is that the best you've got?" he exclaimed amused, locking eye contact with the young blonde in front of him who only pushed the rasengan deeper into his palm.

"Don't underestimate me! You're not going anywhere with her!" Naruto retorted as he let out a cry, Grimmjow's smirk had quickly fallen as his feet skid across the stone floor.

_"I'm being pushed back!?_" he spat to himself and bent one knee in front of him to steady himself. "Your eyes" he uttered to the young blonde as a flicker of detestation crossed them "They look at me the same way that Shinigami does. I hate those damn eyes!" He scorned as the burn of the rasengan increased and pushed through his Hierro until it started to sting. A merciless cry escaped Grimmjows jaws as he fired a red cero from the palm of his hand that held the blue light.

Naruto took a sharp breath as he used both hands to steady his rasengan against the red light. The pressure of the Espadas cero raged against it but ultimately the red light and the blue ball erupted upon impact, forcing both of them backwards.

Orihime held her arms over her face as bits of rubble and small rocks flew at her before she gasped and saw Naruto unable to steady himself as an offending rock was being propelled at him "Santen Kesshun!"

The young blonde's back collided with the stone wall before he caught a glimpse of a large orange triangle in front of him, just in time to deflect being crushed by the enormous rock. "Thank you, Orihime" he uttered as he stumbled forward to her but succumbed to an ache in his leg caused by a stray rock as he fell to the ground on one knee. "_Dammit, my rasengan couldn't counter his attack. What was that?"_ he wondered.

The smoke in the room cleared as Naruto could see Grimmjows taller form slowly straightening his spine as he stood up and walked toward the door where Orihime was before throwing her over his shoulder again. "Naruto!" the orange haired girl called as she struggled against the Espada's steel grip.

"Relax! You should be thanking me for what I'm about to let you do" Grimmjow scolded and shot Naruto a sidelong glance.

The young blonde stood on his two feet but the ache in his leg would not subside, even with the help of his accelerated healing power. "Why do you want Orihime?" He addressed his opponent, his tone challenged Grimmjow which didn't sit well with the Espada.

"To see an old friend. It's none of your damn business what I plan to do. But when I get back" he began, his smirk subtly returning to his face "I want to finish this fight. So don't die until then. You better be this good even after Aizen takes that red stuff you got cos it might be worth my time killing you after all."

_"An old friend?"_ Naruto bit his lip as his brows furrowed "Orihime, I know I said we would do it together but this could be your chance" he began quietly "find your friends and get out of here as soon as you can."

The orange haired girls eyes widened "Naruto!?" was all she could muster, not finding the right questions to ask "but what about you!?"

He looked up and grinned at her as he held his forehead protector "don't worry about me, just get out of this place. And if you find my friends, the ones with these headbands, tell them everything you've told me. About Aizen, about how you met me and just everything. I know you're strong, you can handle it" Naruto's gaze softened for a moment "thank you for all your help, Orihime."

Orihime's gaze never faltered as her lips parted slightly, his words played in her head again. _"I'm strong?"_

The Kyuubi's proposal crossed Naruto's mind again as he straightened his spine _"if it comes to that then I don't want to risk you or anyone else not involved getting caught in the middle. I'll defeat Aizen no matter what"_ he thought over his resolve.

"You humans are so optimistic" Grimmjow interrupted "it's pathetic really and kinda gross how sentimental you all are. I've got to go settle a score so I can't waste anymore time with this crap." He started toward the exit again as he dug his burnt hand into his pocket and used the other to balance Orihime over his shoulder.

"Hey, you." Naruto's voice was firm as his blue orbs hardened into the Espada's back "My name isn't 'kid', it's Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of Konoha and next time I see you, your score better be with me because I have a bone to pick with you." A scoff was the only response the Espada left the young blonde with as he disappeared around the corner.

* * *

The Espada and Orihime traveled in silence for a bit until they reached the desert. "What do you want with me?" Her voice shook as she questioned the Espada which had only earned an vexing sigh from Grimmjow.

"Just shut up and wait" was the only explanation he offered.

The orange haired girl studied her captor as he didn't show how much damage Narutos attack made on him. Bruises and small cuts graced his features from the impact of their colliding techniques. Her brown orbs trailed down his form, examining him until she suppressed a small gasp. Traces of blood were seeping from the pocket he had placed his offending hand in. _"Naruto's attack caused that much damage in only a few seconds? Why would he think someone like me is strong compared to what he can do? I've only healed him a few times, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."_ She held back the few tears welling up in the corner of her brown orbs, feeling the same apprehension as she did when she arrived in Hueco Mundo all those days ago. "_Ichigo_" she searched harder for the young shinigami's spiritual pressure but had felt nothing.

* * *

A/N: I would have liked to make this chapter longer because there was a lot more I wanted to fit in! I feel I could've elaborated much more on some things in this chapter but I've recently decided to change up the story line a bit so I'm sorry if this seems a little bit choppy, I'm just trying to redirect it a little bit :) I hope you liked it anyway and hopefully the next chapter will flow a little bit better, thank you for reading! Lemme know what you think :)


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